Button may announce retirement this weekend

LONDON — Jenson Button is preparing to end his glittering Formula 1 career after 16 seasons, with an announcement likely before this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

The 2009 world champion — who is in a two-plus-one-year deal with McLaren and is completing his second year — has been in negotiations with McLaren over his optional third year, but it is believed he has ­decided to bow out on his terms after another season in an uncompetitive car.

Button, 35, is expected to combine a sportscar drive in the Le Mans-style World Endurance Championship with a media career, rumoured to include the revamped Top Gear.

Button, whose career began in karting, has one world championship, 15 victories and 50 podiums to his name, as well as 278 race starts, making him the third most experienced driver of all time.

According to British media ­reports, Button has decided to retire because his relationship with McLaren chairman Ron Dennis has soured. Dennis publicly told Button to “try harder” on the eve of last season’s British Grand Prix and tried to drop the Englishman last December, only to be overruled by McLaren’s board. Button had spoken of challenging for the world title again with Honda now on board as the team’s engine supplier, but this season has been an ­unmitigated disaster. With Honda unreliable and down on power, Button has scored points just twice.

Lewis Hamilton, his former team-mate, left McLaren at the end of 2012 and has won 19 races since, while Button and McLaren have not scored a single victory in that time. Hamilton has 252 points this season to Button’s six.

The Singapore Grand Prix was yet another miserable race for him. He endured a 40-second pit stop ­before retiring with a failed gearbox.

It is understood Button wants to make the announcement at Suzuka because his wife, Jessica Michibata, is Japanese, and he loves the country.

Button’s seat alongside Fernando Alonso will be taken by either Kevin Magnussen, 22, or Stoffel Vandoorne, 23. Magnussen, from Denmark, drove for the team last season and has grown frustrated sitting on the sidelines. Vandoorne, from Belgium, has been dominating GP2, the main feeder ­series to F1, all season.

Meanwhile, German carmaker Audi is close to finalising a deal for a Formula 1 racing team with Red Bull as its main sponsor from 2018, Germany’s Auto Bild said yesterday.

A spokesman for Audi said he could not confirm the report in the magazine. AGENCIES