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Button coy on Red Bull link

ESPN Staff
July 4, 2013 « Downbeat Hamilton doubts Silverstone repeat | Lotus pace is still there - Grosjean »
Jenson Button: "I am not looking around like some people might think" © Sutton Images
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Jenson Button says he is not actively looking to leave McLaren despite being linked with the vacancy at Red Bull.

Although Christian Horner said Red Bull would work from a shortlist of Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, Button's odds have shortened considerably since the British Grand Prix. With McLaren having a poor season, when asked if he would definitely be with the team next year he said: "Nothing is certain, no…"

However, when pushed whether this season's McLaren performance has caused him to look at his options, Button said he wasn't actively doing so.

"If this was a team that was consistently finishing fourth or fifth in championship then of course, I would look elsewhere," Button said. "I would look to one of the front running teams to step up to a team where they could give me a race-winning car, but this isn't a team that is finishing four of fifth in the constructors', this is a bad year and years to come this team will be fighting for world championships, so I am not looking around like some people might think."

With Pirelli bringing tweaked rear tyres to the German Grand Prix, Button says he's unsure if McLaren will benefit but doesn't think the teams should focus on any performance changes.

"I really don't know. The important thing is the safety issue; if one team gains a tenth on other teams, so be it. That is the way of the world. We have to run this tyre as it is a safer tyre; we don't want tyre explosions. I don't think anyone can get angry about if a team gains a tenth on anyone else; but I don't know if there will be a difference. In Canada [practice] it was wet so we didn't get any dry running with it."

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