McLaren have confirmed that neither Jenson Button nor Sergio Perez have signed contracts to remain with the Woking team in 2014.
Whilst it’s believed Button has a verbal agreement and is likely to remain, Perez’s position is far from certain. It’s believed the Mexican will be ousted to make way for rookie Kevin Magnussen.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh confirmed they are currently considering “lots of people” for the two seats adding that their line-up would be confirmed “soon”.
“Lots of people are being considered,” he said on Monday. “When we come to the end of those considerations we will make an announcement.
“I think he [Perez] has done a good job and we are still talking to him,” he added. “I know there are all sorts of things I’ve read in the media, but the fact is that at the moment we haven’t confirmed our driver line-up and we haven’t signed contracts – plural – with drivers so we are still talking about that.”
Whitmarsh is keen to sign the best drivers he can and says an intelligent driver is required for 2014. Sources close to the team have confirmed that Magnussen has proven far better in the simulator than Perez when it comes to next years regulations.
“Certainly in an era of change you need bright drivers, and Sergio’s a clever guy,” he explained. “I think he’s a good driver for anyone next year including ourselves.
“Clearly the powertrain is more complex and more interesting in many ways in how you deploy the various energy and how you move energy around the car to store it and deploy it. I think it’s quite complex and I think you need an intelligent driver, and one way or another I think we’ve got two intelligent drivers now and I’m sure we’ll have just that next year.”
