After leaving fans in suspense for a driver lineup, it was finally announced by the team that Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button would be driving for the new McLaren-Honda team. It is a rare occasion when we see two drivers with this much experience racing on the same team. The 2015 McLaren lineup can only be described as a powerhouse.
After the shaky season that Alonso had with McLaren way back in 2007, after which his contract was terminated, few people expected to see Alonso and McLaren team up again. In 2014, Alonso had a fair year with Ferrari and managed to score quite a few points, despite driving a substandard car. Alonso is a great driver who is capable of accomplishing big things and he should be an enormous asset to the new McLaren team.
Jenson Button should also be a huge help to the McLaren team. Although he isn’t quite as successful a driver as he was five seasons ago, he is still an extremely reliable and talented driver. However, his career has already reached its peak and he may be in the beginning stages of his decline. Despite this, he still has a gigantic fan base, as we saw with the whole #KeepButton campaign.
Although this lineup will be good for the team this season, it could come back to hurt the team in the seasons to come. Most teams have a young driver and an experienced driver, but when you have two experienced drivers on the same team, a few issues can come up. Firstly, an experienced driver tends to want a higher salary. On teams with a young and an experienced driver, they are generally able to pay the younger driver less money and it will balance out in the long run. When you have two experienced drivers, you can’t do this because they are both going to want high salaries. This could hurt McLaren financially in the future.
Finally, big name drivers generally have big egos. We saw the same type of teammate rivalry with Ayrton Senna and Alan Prost in the 1990s. We probably won’t see the same level of conflict, but both drivers will surely be looking to impress the team. This could mean that the drivers will be making racing decisions based on what is best for them, not necessarily what is best for the team.
Overall, the McLaren lineup will be one of the best lineups of the 2015 season, but it seems as though McLaren have neglected to look at the whole picture. If things go a certain way, McLaren could be stuck with some bad financial issues in the future. But for the time being, we should definitely be looking for McLaren to be competing with the best in 2015.
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