Button retained by McLaren

[j2 lot]

There was a time when being the reserve driver meant constant testing and a decent chance of stepping up but now it means the odd Practise 1 drive and the frustration of a pay to drive replacement getting the seat if one of the team drivers is sidelined for any reason. Difficult for any driver to prove themselves with the current set up.

[jason]

So, what should Magnussen do now the decision has been made?

Obviously he has agreed to be test driver but surely that's a dead end road for him at McLaren. If he wasn't good enough now then what's going to change in a year or two's time...

Add in the much-anticipated Vandoorne factor in one or two years time and it really looks sticky for Magnussen.

A shrinking grid, testing restrictions and many teams' increasingly dire financial positions (the traditional driver entry point teams) are all making it harder for new talent to rise. But his attitude "I won't just make up the numbers" won't help him.

[robin]

The short answer is that F1 doesn't have a seat for everyone with the seats being allocated on a commercial basis - you have to be VERY good if you need to be paid - Button is lucky to have a paid drive, IMHO; Magnussen whilst perhaps better than Button, isn't that much better that he'll make a difference.

The moral is don't try and be an F1 driver unless you have lots of talent and even more money.

The sporting message from Bernie is - if you cannot afford to play, fcuk off - until that changes, this is the way it will be. Who knows in another generation, F1 might consist totally of "gentlemen drivers"

If the commercial basis of the sport were to change into a fair distribution of the pot and perhaps some way to level the engine costs out, then the mid order could exist as commercial ventures and rely on talent to leap frog (commercially, as well as on track) an under performing front runner. That won't leave much room for CVC though - they've made $8billion out of the sport since coming into it ... that's $8billion not spent on drivers and technology.

Cheers,
Robin