Tough-talking McLaren overlord Ron Dennis has rubbished rumours of a split with grand prix oldie Jenson Button.

“He is going nowhere — we have a two-year deal,” reveals resolute Ron. “And we want him to stay.”

Former world champion Button, 35, took a £4m-a-year (Dh23m-a-year) wage drop to stick it out with the Formula One strugglers.

Their miserable season as regular non-finishers has dropped the one-time dominant force down among the also-rans as they and besieged new engine partners Honda strive to find solutions with, right now, little or no success.

And paddock gossip buzzed that if Button, partnered with double champion Fernando Alonso, didn’t quit the team of his own volition at the end of the season, they would offload him.

With two superbly gifted young drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne, the GP2 series star, signed up and eagerly awaiting their chance of a breakthrough into the top flight, Button’s plight surely looked desperate.

But the 2009 world champion, F1’s most experienced driver and 15 times a winner from 274 GPs, claims he is happy to battle on against the mounting odds, and Dennis is content to give him the chance to do it.

Button, unfazed by the paddock whispers on his position, reckons his predicament will ease and a fightback is looming after a disastrous British Grand Prix last time out.

“I am still optimistic that it is all going to improve at the next race in Hungary [next weekend],” is his wishful surmise.

And he adds: “I am still a grand prix racing driver and every time I climb into the cockpit I am optimistic that our situation will improve.

“We have had a couple of bad races, but I am still confident that it is going to improve — and in Hungary, the next grand prix.

“I am here to compete flat out and fight hard. And that’s my aim at every race.

“We will have more upgrades for Hungary and the car, we hope, will work better.”

Dennis asserted: “We are not even thinking about drivers at the moment — and Jenson has a two-year contract with McLaren. Both he and Fernando are doing an amazing job. It would be easy for them to be critical of McLaren, but they are not.”

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, helped to stardom and title glory by Dennis, who recruited him for McLaren as a raw karting youngster, feels the pain for his former team.

“It hurts and it is hard for me when I see what is happening to such a great team with such a fantastic record,” said the Mercedes superstar.

I believe he is echoing the genuine concerns of just about everybody in Formula One.

— The writer is a freelance journalist and motorsport expert