Formula 1: Jenson Button to replace Alonso for Monaco GP

The McLaren F1 team has announced that Jenson Button will be participating in the Monaco GP as a stand-in driver for Fernando Alonso. Alonso had earlier revealed that he will be missing the Monaco GP and will instead be participating in the Indianapolis 500 race on May 28, 2017.

The 2017 Monaco GP will thus be Button's 306th Grand Prix race. He had earlier won this race in 2009, during the same year when he clinched the world drivers' championship title. Button had last appeared in a GP during the previous season's last race in Abu Dhabi, in late November 2016. However, the British driver claims that he has done a lot of triathlon training recently and is thus fit to get back into the McLaren F1 car.

Button also believes that since Monaco is a relatively slower circuit, McLaren will have a better chance of scoring some championship points here. The team hasn't scored a single point yet in the 2017 season, owing to repeated technical difficulties with the MCL32.