Button and Alonso: is this the end of the road for McLaren?

At least Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso finished the Japanese Grand Prix, which made a change, but they limped in a long way behind winner Lewis Hamilton amid fears that the McLaren Formula 1 team could be nearing the end of the road.

Another desperately disappointing, and pointless, weekend for the English team at Suzuka, where they finished 11th and 16th, was made worse after both drivers contradicted the assertion of team boss Ron Dennis that they would be with the team next season.

Dennis appeared unequivocal on the matter before the race, but during it, Alonso went public with his concerns, branding his ride "embarrassing" over the team radio after being overtaken. He is one year into a three year contract, but McLaren could not stop him retiring from the sport in disgust.

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Many expected Button to announce his retirement at Japan, but he did not. However, he also refused to discuss his future with the team and it is possible, says Daniel Johnson of the Daily Telegraph, that both drivers could leave the team at the end of the year.

"The team are already in a major crisis, suffering one of the worst seasons in their history, but they could not afford to lose either driver, particularly now Dennis has said both will stay," he writes. "It would be a humiliating blow which would further damage McLaren’s relationship with sponsors – what sponsors they still have - as well as Dennis’s position with his fellow shareholders."

The contribution of Dennis was particularly damaging says Kevin Eason of The Times. "[He] rode over the hill into Suzuka like a white knight to rescue his team from public humiliation and departed on a knackered donkey leaving behind a trail of devastation.

"The dull thud that echoed around the vast showground of Suzuka was the sound of one of the grandee teams of Formula One imploding... what we witnessed here was a once proud team having its trousers pulled down like the last act of a seedy Carry On film."

The BBC reports that Alonso later confirmed his commitment to McLaren but the team faces serious problems away from the circuit as well as on it, says The Guardian.

"McLaren, without a title sponsor since 2013, after losing Vodafone, and who will be another £20m worse off next year after Johnnie Walker and Santander withdrew their backing, are hoping to announce a new sponsor in the next few weeks. But fresh deals will be difficult to strike with their team a shambles, and their drivers uncertain whether they are staying."