Button thrilled by F1 return as he gears up for Monaco

Jenson Button took just two minutes of persuading to end his F1 hiatus and return at the most famous circuit on the calendar.

Button, who treated last year’s concluding race in Abu Dhabi as the final of his world championship-winning career, will be back in F1 at next month’s Monaco Grand Prix after he answered McLaren’s call to replace Fernando Alonso.

The call came from Éric Boullier, the team’s racing director, last week after Alonso accepted the challenge of driving in the Indianapolis 500, which is staged on the same day as the Monte Carlo race.

“It started a week ago with a couple of texts,’’ said Boullier. “The phone call was maybe two minutes. It was a very short discussion and very easy. His first reaction was ‘Great, I am so excited’. He has a contract with us, but you could feel his excitement over the phone was real, and I am happy that he would part of this adventure.

“Jenson was our choice from day one. He has been racing all his life, and I guess anyone who would stop doing it would miss it, so I am not surprised he said yes.”

The 37-year-old is still paid £5 million a year by McLaren to be their ambassador. He has not driven the new McLaren and will swerve the chance to get his first taste of track action at next week’s two-day test in Bahrain.

So Button will be thrust back into the spotlight on Thursday morning at the tight surroundings of Monte Carlo.

The Briton, who spent seven seasons with McLaren, partnering Lewis Hamilton for three of them, said: “I’m thrilled to be making a one-off return to Formula One, and I couldn’t think of a better place to make that return than my adopted home grand prix of Monaco.”