Dennis happy with driver pairing

(McLaren Mercedes)

McLaren chief executive officer Ron Dennis has confirmed that he is happy with his team's current driver pairing of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen and understands that the team need to give their driver's a car that allows them to challenge for victories however he has challenged both Button and Magnussen to push one each other.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 HD's Natalie Pinkham, Dennis believes that the team made a great choice in signing Magnussen from the teams young driver programme but equally feels that Button, who is out of contract with the Woking outfit this season needs to up his game. 

It is a double edged sword however because Button can only perform aswell as the car allows him and so far the team have struggled compared to their rivals. However last time out at the British Grand Prix, the team did see a marked improvement as Button started the race from third on the grid and was unlucky to miss out on a podium finish and eventually brought his MP4-29 home in fourth place just behind Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo.

When asked about the current state of the driver market and whether his team would try to re-hire Mercedes Lewis Hamilton who drove for the team from 2007 - 2012 (winning the drivers championship in 2008) Dennis said that as far as he is aware Hamilton has a contract with the Mercedes AMG F1 Team for 2015 and that at McLaren whether it is a driver or engineer that they are looking for they respect existing contracts that may be in place.

Dennis' comments come amid suggestions that Jenson Button may not be at McLaren next season after the 2009 world champion said recently that no progress has been made on a possible contract extension with the Woking outfit. However, McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier has said that the team are currently looking at other area's unrelated to their driver line-up.

It is likely therefore that the team will sit down with Button over the course of the August Summer break to discuss the future. Button has said that he is not yet ready to retire from Formula One.

© Ben Johnston 2014