• McLaren news

Button looking forward to working with Honda again

Jenson Button drove for Honda in 2008 © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News:
• Honda confirms return to F1 in 2015
  

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button

• Teams:
• McLaren

Jenson Button has welcomed the news that he will be working with Honda again after a multi-year deal to supply engines to McLaren from 2015 was confirmed on Thursday.

Button drove for Honda during its last spell in the sport as a factory team and won his first Formula One race with Honda at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. The brand pulled out of F1 amid the financial crisis at the end of 2008 after enduring an uncompetitive couple of seasons with Button at the wheel.

However, the car that the team had been working on for 2009 took Button to his title victory with Brawn GP and Button said he had many happy memories of working with the Japanese company.

"I've already enjoyed a long and successful working relationship with Honda," he said. "I first raced a Formula One car powered by a Honda engine in 2003, and I was a works Honda Formula One driver between 2006 and '08, winning my first grand prix in Hungary in 2006 in a Honda Formula One car, so I know exactly how passionate Honda is about motorsport, and Formula One in particular.

Honda is already working on a V6 turbo engine to comply with the new regulations set to be introduced next year. Button said Honda's arrival in 2015 will give it an opportunity to showcase its engineering prowess.

"The challenge set by Formula One's new technical regulations provides Honda with the perfect opportunity to return to the pinnacle of motorsport," he added. "Honda is one of the most experienced and accomplished builders of turbocharged engines anywhere in the world, has always treated Formula One as a platform for world-beating technical innovation, and will surely relish the opportunity once again to showcase on a global sporting stage its engine technicians' unparalleled engineering prowess."

Button said he also has an emotional attachment to McLaren-Hondas.

"I grew up watching McLaren-Honda Formula One cars racing and winning around the world - they wrote their own glorious chapter of Formula One history, in fact. Even now, picturing those unmistakable red-and-white cars evokes vivid memories of some of the most dramatic and exciting motor racing the world has ever seen.

"McLaren-Honda: I know how much passion, success and pride are encapsulated within just those two words. And that's why I'm so thrilled and excited about what's not only a fantastic opportunity for the team, but also a great development for Formula One fans and the sport as a whole."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.