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MT 7 September 2016

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21 Sport FORMULA 1 KICKBOXING maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2016 Team Noel to compete in Northern Ireland TWO athletes from Team Noel will represent Malta in matches during the big- gest Kickboxing gala in Northern Ireland Master Noel Mercieca will take Courtney Vella and Aiden Borg Catania to enter the ring and face their Northern Ireland 's competitors. Since these matches will be headlining the gala they will be sanc- tioned under the World Kickboxing Network (WKN). Vella will face Jake Mc- Cready in a 3x2 match with Kickboxing rules. While Borg Catania will find Killiam Emery from Swit- zerland in 3x2 K1 match. The Maltese athletes even though they are just teen- agers both of them have a Black Belt in Kickboxing. Between them they have a total of 40 matches ex- perience in Kickboxing, K1 and Boxing, both on local and international levels. In more than one occassion they competed with foregin athletes and in competi- tions which involved kick- boxers from around the world. The intensive training un- der Master Noel Mercieca will be as a preperation for the most famous Kick- boxing event in Northern Ireland under the Prokick banner. For more information visit Team Noel 's page or con- tact Master Noel Mercieca on 79208283. Williams would have 'loved' Button Claire Williams says she would have "loved" to have signed Jenson Button to race for Williams in 2017 THE Briton was linked with a re- turn to the team with which he made his F1 debut in 2000 after it became apparent Stoffel Van- doorne would take his race seat at McLaren. Instead, Button has agreed a new two-year deal to remain at McLaren which will see him be- come a company ambassador and a return to a race seat in 2018 at the Woking squad hasn't been ruled out. "Everyone knows that we were quite interested in Jenson - and why wouldn't you be? He's a great talent and he would be a great driver for anyone to have in their team," Williams told Sky Sports F1. "Saturday's announcement is a real shame for the sport and comes off the back of Felipe [Mas- sa announcing his retirement]. "We're losing two great drivers from the sport, legends. I would have loved to have Jenson in this team, but unfortunately it didn't work out. I wish him all the best. "I would have loved to have seen him in Williams...a British driver in a British team has been a dream of mine. You never know, one day." Jenson Button has announced he will not be racing in Formula One next season. The 36-year-old, who has par- ticipated in every season since 2000, will take a year out of the sport next term and will be re- placed by McLaren's highly-rated reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne. McLaren have an option on But- ton for him to compete for the race team in 2018. Button, the 2009 world cham- pion, made the announcement f lanked by McLaren chairman Ron Dennis in the team's mo- torhome on the eve of the Italian Grand Prix. "I can tell you now that I do have a two-year contract starting next year with McLaren-Honda, and next year I will be an ambassador for this team," Button said. "I will work with this team in every way I can to make it a bet- ter team for the future. I will train my a*** off like you have never seen before and I will also do a lot of races to make sure everything is on the right track. "I will also be doing a lot of stuff that I haven't done for 17 years. I will be living on my schedule, spend more time with my friends and more importantly my family who I haven't seen properly in 17 years. That is something I am re- ally excited about. "There are many things I want to do that I haven't been able to do because of the Formula One schedule. You are not just a racing driver when you drive in F1 - this is your life - and I definitely need a break from that in 2017. "So, 2017 will be that and in 2018 the team have an option on me to race for McLaren-Honda which is pretty awesome." Button has been linked with a move to Williams - with whom he started his grand prix journey at the turn of the century - but his new role at McLaren will forbid the 36-year-old from competing with another team. Button will still attend some of the grands prix next season as back-up to Vandoorne, the 24-year-old Belgian, and Fernan- do Alonso. "Forget the word retirement," Dennis said. "That is not in the vocabulary and that is not what we are saying. "Jenson is one of the team's driv- ers for the next two years. If Jen- son is needed to drive next year for any reason he can." Button has made nearly 300 grands prix starts in a career which has spanned 17 seasons, yielded 15 wins and 50 podiums. He also won the world champion- ship with Brawn in 2009. Vandoorne, who made his grand prix debut in Bahrain earlier this season as a replacement for Alon- so following his shunt at the sea- son opener in Australia, will take Button's seat. "First of all, I want to express my gratitude to everyone at McLar- en-Honda, and especially Ron, for showing faith in me," said Van- doorne. "I've signed loads of autographs in my career, but, when I inked my signature on my McLaren- Honda contract today, it's safe to say I had an exceptionally special feeling as I picked up my pen to do so. "It's an enormous honour to become a McLaren-Honda race driver, and I promise to work as hard as any Formula One driver ever has before." Button began his career with Williams before spells with Re- nault, BAR and then Honda. The Japanese manufacturer quit the sport at the end of 2008, leav- ing Button without a drive, but a consortium led by Ross Brawn took over the team at the elev- enth hour and, in one of sport's remarkable fairytales, Button claimed the world title in the fol- lowing season, with Brawn win- ning the constructors' title. The Englishman then moved to McLaren in 2010, where he beat Lewis Hamilton on points in the three seasons they were paired together. But while his career at McLar- en began in spectacular fashion - he won in only his second ap- pearance for the British team - McLaren have fallen down the grid in recent seasons. Indeed Button has not won a race, nor stepped on the podium, in nearly four seasons. But Button added: "I love McLaren-Honda - I firmly be- lieve it's made up of the best bunch of people I've ever worked with - and I have no intention of ever driving for another Formula One team. "To be clear I'm very definitely not retiring. I'm contracted for both 2017 and 2018. I intend to work hard on car development and I'm sure I'll get behind the wheel of the new car at some point." Button's definitive plans for 2017 are unclear, although he has been earmarked as a pundit, while he is keen to take part in more triathlons. Earlier this week, a Channel 4 spokesperson told Press Asso- ciation Sport when asked about their interest in Button: "We al- ways have an eye on the pool of available talent."

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