Why McLaren-Honda Had to Replace Jenson Button with Stoffel Vandoorne for 2017
Jenson Button finished a lapped 14th in the 2016 season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, but far more important for him was the result on the other side of the McLaren-Honda garage.
Fernando Alonso's collision with the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez on Lap 17, which saw the Spaniard slam into the outside wall of Turn 3 before rolling repeatedly in the gravel trap, had ensured the second year of the renewed partnership had got off to a spectacular, if not exactly successful, start.
Despite the sheer violence of the crash—Alonso experienced "a peak impact force of 46G" having glanced Gutierrez's rear-left wheel at 305 kilometres per hour, per motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble—the two-time world champion was relatively unharmed in the incident.
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But as he clambered out of his crumpled car, which was upturned against the crash barrier, hobbled away from the wreckage and paused to rest his hands on the grass-stained knees of his race overalls, it soon became evident all was not well.
And that McLaren might finally have the excuse—or rather, the opportunity—they had been looking for.
As reported by BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, the team had regarded Stoffel Vandoorne as a future race driver and potential world champion since he was first confirmed as McLaren's reserve driver at the beginning of 2014.
His title-winning GP2 season in 2015, when he became the most dominant champion of a series once conquered by drivers of the calibre of Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean, had only crystallised that impression.
So when Alonso told an FIA press conference ahead of the next race in Bahrain how "a small pneumothorax on the lung" and "some rib fractures" would prevent him from competing, there was no need for McLaren to hurriedly sign a random journeyman on a short-term contract as, for instance, Lotus did in late 2013.
For the team already had a very capable, in-house, ready-made replacement.
So late was the decision to rule out Alonso, though, that Vandoorne entered the Bahrain GP weekend fighting a losing battle—even by the normal standards of stand-in drivers.
Having arrived in Sakhir on an overnight flight from Tokyo, per the official F1 website, Vandoorne had just hours to prepare for a practice session behind the wheel of a car he had never driven at a circuit that—with several long straights—was set to expose McLaren's major weaknesses.
Yet in this seemingly no-win situation, Vandoorne managed to survive the weekend with his reputation even further enhanced.
After beating Button by two positions in qualifying, he went on to produce an assured performance in his first grand prix, evading the chaos of the opening two laps, sparring with Sergio Perez and ultimately finishing 10th.
And even had Button finished in the top six—a result he felt was possible prior to a race-ending engine issue, as he told the team's official website—it would have paled into insignificance alongside the achievement of Vandoorne, the latest unflustered youngster to score a point on his Formula One debut.
Although that race was hardly a direct shootout between Vandoorne and Button for a 2017 seat, it was undoubtedly the moment the latter ensured he could no longer be overlooked—having been denied a seamless graduation to F1 at the end of '15.
Indeed, the 24-year-old—with no more time to waste in an era when teenagers have arrived on the grid and immediately excelled—seemed well aware his position had been strengthened as a result of his performance at Sakhir.
Having previously sworn allegiance to McLaren, Vandoorne warned he would happily explore "other options" if the team were unable to give him what he wanted, per motorsport.com's Valentin Khorounzhiy and Jamie Klein, placing pressure on the management.
Even since Bahrain, McLaren had frequently insisted no decision regarding their lineup would be made until September—around the time their contractual option on Vandoorne was set to expire, according to motorsport.com's Noble and Jacobo Vega.
Per the same source, racing director Eric Boullier outlined how discussions over their plans risked distracting the drivers and the team, who had grown tired of answering relentless questions surrounding the future of Button, arguably the most popular driver in modern F1, for two years.
But the delay was also down to the fact that when McLaren eventually came to make the decision, it was a remarkably quick and simple one—as evidenced by the confirmation of their "innovative three-driver strategy" on September 3.
Button's determination to cling on to F1 by accepting an ambassadorial role with McLaren, rather than acknowledging the time had come to retire, had the unfortunate effect of robbing the attention from Vandoorne when the announcement was made over the Italian GP weekend.
Yet the muted response to the Belgian's move to a race seat was a reflection of both the man himself—quiet, calm and controlled—and just how inevitable his promotion was.
After giving Vandoorne a taste of F1 in Bahrain, McLaren simply couldn't hold him back any longer.
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