Button is ready to sign new 8m Brawn deal
JENSON BUTTON is ready to put pen-to-paper on a new £8m deal, according to team boss Ross Brawn.
The newly-crowned world champion has been linked with a move to join fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, but Brawn GP are ready to break the bank to keep the 29-year-old with the Brackley-based team.
Button took a pay cut from £10m to around £3m last winter to help secure the survival of the cash-strapped team, but boss Brawn knows he may have to almost treble his pay in order to fend off preying rivals.
“Jenson’s obviously a great driver, and for those teams out there without full their complement of drivers so he’s got to be a target,”Brawn admitted. “We want Jenson to stay in the team, and I think we’ll find a solution. We’re working to find a balance between what we can afford and what Jenson feels is fair for his
status and contribution.”
The final grand prix of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi next week and Brawn expects the situation to be resolved within a fortnight of the race.
“But maybe it’ll happen before then. We have a finite amount of resource, money, whatever – and we have to look at the best way of spending that,” he added.
“You are never 100 per cent sure but I would say 99 per cent.”