Jenson Button aims cheeky dig at McLaren after social media snub

Thomas Maher
2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button in the paddock at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Jenson Button in the paddock.

Jenson Button clearly hasn’t forgotten McLaren’s recent social media faux pas, as he good-naturedly took a dig at his former team.

Button woke up and decided to choose violence when he had the opportunity to remind McLaren about a recent error the Woking-based team made on social media in which they forgot entirely about the British driver’s existence.

Button was appearing at an event for Williams, for whom he is an ambassador, in the Fanzone at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, when he took the opportunity to laugh at the glaring mistake and get his own back.

What mistake did McLaren make in the first place?

McLaren made history at the Qatar Grand Prix with a landmark achievement in the form of their 500th podium finish, courtesy of Lando Norris finishing in third place.

To celebrate, the team posted a snazzy graphic on social media, commemorating their podium-achieving drivers across the years.

The only problem is, they forgot a driver who scored 26 podiums in McLaren colours!

While the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen, with one podium apiece as McLaren drivers, made the cut for the graphic, Button did not, despite making the podium 26 times as a McLaren driver during his tenure between 2010 and 2017.

“My 26 podiums for you guys obviously don’t count so it’s only 475!” Button replied in response to his absence from the graphic.

Not willing to let the oversight fade from memory just yet, Button laughed as he took the opportunity to poke some fun at the omission.

“There are two teams that stand out,” he told fans in the Las Vegas Fanzone.

“One is this orange colour, can’t remember what their name is!

“They forgot that I raced for them, so I’m not going to mention them! They’ve done an amazing job in terms of their performance, and the other one is Williams.”

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Jenson Button believes Red Bull can be caught

Coming into the Las Vegas GP weekend, the 2009 F1 World Champion told Sky Sports News that he reckons Red Bull are slowly but surely being caught by the following teams, and an upset could still happen before season end.

“There are so many big teams fighting at the front and one tiny slip up and you’re the fourth-best team,” he said.

“So to catch Red Bull’s difficult, but they’re getting closer. I mean, Brazil wasn’t a great example, but this second part of the season you’ve seen teams like McLaren, Mercedes, both fighting very closely with the Red Bulls.

“Max has had that little advantage, but his team-mate hasn’t, so we could have an upset next year.

“I don’t think it’s going to be all Red Bull’s way. This year was an exceptional year for that team, and I don’t feel it will be the same next year, which is what the sport needs. We need a little bit of a mix-up.”

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