McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh says the team will speak in the next few days about Jenson Button supporting Lewis Hamilton’s title bid.
Following the Korean GP and his 12th placed finish, Button is all but mathematically out of the world title chase as he trails new championship leader Fernando Alonso by 42 points with 50 still to play for.
But while Korea delivered a crushing blow to Button’s title aspirations, his team-mate’s were given a much-needed boost. Hamilton finished the grand prix in second place and is now just 21 points off the pace.
The huge gap between the team-mates and Button’s all-but-over title campaign raised the question about whether McLaren will call on the reigning world champion to support Hamilton in the final two races.
And that, Whitmarsh admits, is something McLaren will have to speak about before the next race in Brazil.
“Mathematically it’s not impossible for Jenson, but it looks quite tough, very difficult for him,” Whitmarsh said. “So we’ll talk about that before we get to Brazil.”
Hamilton admitted he was not yet sure whether Button would support his title charge.
“We both push as hard as we can to score as many points as we can for the team,” he added.
“Clearly we’re both far behind, him further than me. I’m 21 points behind, so I’ve got to get a lot of points.
“I don’t know what will happen. You will have to speak to Martin on what he thinks he will have to do.
“All I know is I have to get as high up as possible, and it would be fantastic to have Jenson with me.”
