Before the , he told Dennis he planned to retire after the season. Dennis asked Button to wait before returning for discussion to which he said he had already decided. He suggested Button take a sabbatical and mull over the decision to retire while resting and made Button an ambassador for McLaren. He would work in the team's simulator at MTC, represent them at sponsor functions and attempt to help them in car development. Button was retained by McLaren as reserve driver with the option to return to full-time racing for the team in if he and McLaren agreed to it. He was replaced as a GPDA director by Romain Grosjean. In April 2017, Boullier asked Button to drive in lieu of the Indianapolis 500-bound Alonso at the and agreed after Goodard told him there was no way to get out of the commitment because he was contractually bound to drive. He prepared in the team's simulator instead of testing in Bahrain because he would learn nothing by not driving on a narrow street circuit. He retired late in the race following a collision with Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein that damaged his car.