Button the £5million understudy
IT WAS the Bernie and Button show in sun-fried Bahrain yesterday. Jenson, 37, and 86-yearold Ecclestone, two old boys showing Formula One’s new owners how headlines are made.
First, confirmation that Button would be returning to the cockpit for the Monaco Grand Prix as a one-off replacement for McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who will compete on the same day, May 28, in the Indianapolis 500.
Formula One screams money, and the figures for Button’s Sunday drive by the Med are eye-wateringly grand. He is, effectively, being paid £5million for one race, the figure he earns as the team’s reserve driver. So he will bank £31,055 per mile.
Second, Ecclestone arrived in the paddock on a golf buggy and every camera and notebookk turned in his direction ass he returned to the inner ner sanctum of his lostst empire for the firstt time since being divested of control by Liberty Media in January. The interest shown in him had been generated by a lifetime’s s mercurial work.
Button was delighted ted by his news, saying:g: ‘I couldn’t think of a better place to make my return than my adopted home grand prix. It’s one of my favourite racetracks. It’s a tricky street circuit on which a good driver can really make a difference.’
It seems Button needed little prompting to return to driving duties. As Eric Boullier, McLaren’s racing director, said: ‘I rang Jenson and his first reaction was, “Great — I am so excited”. He had a contract with us, but you could feel his excitement over the phone was real and I am happy he is part of this adventure. It started a week ago with a couple of texts. The phone call was maybe two minutes, a very short discussion, very easy.’
Button, who has been relaxing in Monaco and America since he went into semi-retirement at the end of last season, will make his 306th start. That means he will be the most experienced man on the grid.
He said: ‘ OK, I realise we won’t have a realistic chance of repeating my 2009 victory, but I think we’ll have an opportunity to score world championship points, which will be very valuable to the team in terms of constructors’ rankings.’
He will not take part in testing in Bahrain next week, thinking that simulator work in the factory will better prepare him for Monaco’s unique demands. He declared himself fitter than ever, having pounded the triathlon miles. Bahrain yesterday was for mad ddogs and Englishmen, thouthough by the second prapractice session at 6pm lolocal time — race time ttomorrow — the ttemperature was down to 30C.
Ferrari’s Sebastian VVettel was fastest wwith Lewis Hamilton oonly fifth, but that wawas because the Brit had to abort a couple of fast runs,r and he is likely to be close to the red cars whenh the competitive stuff starts.
Ecclestone, officially Formula One’s chairman emeritus, mostly dodged the heat in the Red Bull motorhome with wife Fabiana and a parade of visitors. He tipped Hamilton for the title.
Of Alonso’s Indy experiment, he added: ‘I would have said wait until your contract finishes and then you can do what you like.’
And asked about the new regulations, Ecclestone, who last year said racing was so predictable that he would not pay to watch it, said: ‘Every year they play around with bits and pieces. So we haven’t done a lot to the cars. But the racing has been better than last year.’