26/10/2009
NEWS STORY
Despite being linked with a move elsewhere should his financial demands not be met, Ross Brawn is confident that Jenson Button will remain with his Brackley outfit in 2010.
Having taken a pay cut in 2009, Button, who last week wrapped up the 2009 title(s) is looking for a salary more in keeping with his status in 2010 and beyond. However, as the media links the Englishman with McLaren - a team where Lewis Hamilton is clearly the favoured son - Ross Brawn remains confident that a solution can be found which will allow Button to remain at Brackley and defend both titles.
"Jenson is obviously a great driver and for those teams without their full complement of drivers, he's got to be a target," Brawn told BBC radio at the weekend. "We want Jenson to stay in the team and I think we'll find a solution. He has a contract with us but of course that contract is not the salary of a world champion, not the salary of a team that's now in a much stronger position than it was 10 months ago.
"We are working with Jenson to find a balance between what we can afford and what he feels is fair for his status and contribution he can make in the future," added Brawn.
"You are never 100 percent certain but I'd say 99," he replied when asked how confident he was that Button would remain at Brackley.
Meanwhile, there is continued speculation that Mercedes is to throw its lot in with Brawn and buy into the Brackley team even to the extent of selling some, or all, of its stake in McLaren. Indeed, there are claims that McLaren is to become a customer of the German engine manufacturer.
It is believed that Mercedes remains extremely unhappy at the fact that McLaren sold a 30 percent stake to the Mumtalakat Holding Company, which is wholly owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain, in 2007.