Consensus finally reached at McLaren as Button wins race to be Alonso’s team-mate

Chief executive Dennis claimed “the two-year contract was my idea, not Jenson’s” after the 34-year-old Briton was confirmed alongside Fernando Alonso at McLaren for next season.

Dennis offered “no apologies” for delaying confirming McLaren’s team line-up for more than a month, revealing the onus had been on Button to convince team chiefs he was fully committed to the challenge.

The McLaren CEO also conceded, though, that FIA contractual obligations to retain three drivers in part led to the decision to hand Button his 16th year in Formula 1, with Kevin Magnussen retained as test driver.

“He has no reason now not to get the job done, no reason,” said Dennis, demanding Button delivers. “I make no apologies for having the level of consideration that I gave ultimately to the decision.

“I spent the weekend thinking about solutions as opposed to problems. I gave Jenson some ideas on solutions, and he just said ‘no problem’, and that was it.

“Then it was very easy.

“Then everybody who had been slightly this way or that way aligned, and we had the very thing, consensus.”