Ross Brawn ‘99 per cent’ certain he’ll keep Button

Ross Brawn, team principal at Brawn GP, is "99 per cent" certain that the world champion elect Jenson Button will stay with his Formula 1 team next season. As reported on The First Post last week, there have been moves by rival F1 outfit McLaren to poach the 29-year-old Brit and pair him in a team with fellow world champion Lewis Hamilton, but Brawn, whose team also won the constructors' championship in its maiden season, told BBC Five Live yesterday that negotiations were ongoing to keep hold of Button.

"Jenson's obviously a great driver, so he's got to be a target. We want Jenson to stay in the team, and I think we'll find a solution. Jenson has a contract with us. But that contract is not the salary of a world champion, not the salary of a team that is in a much stronger position than it was 10 months ago," Brawn noted. Button took a 50 per cent pay cut in March 2009 as Ross Brawn and Nick Fry fought to resurrect a team from the ashes of Honda, which pulled out of the motorsport at the beginning of the season.

"We're working with Jenson to find a balance between what we can afford and what he feels is fair for his status and the contribution he can make in the future." Button currently earns £4m a year, but McLaren's deep pockets and his status as champion mean that he could easily double that with a move to the rival English team. However, the chances of Button and Hamilton settling happily together on one team would have been low, as the pair have had spats in the past.

Brawn paid fulsome tribute in the interview to his driver, who set up his overall triumph this season with wins in six of the first seven grands prix. "We have a great relationship with Jenson, and he has been a wonderful part of the team and has done a fantastic job this year. There have been a few difficulties on qualifying this season, but his race performance has been exemplary."

The final race of the season takes place at Abu Dhabi on Sunday with all the major silverware decided. Ross Brawn then aims to secure his driver over the next few weeks: "We've set a target of two weeks after the last race to get this concluded. But maybe it'll happen before then. It's finding this middle ground between what we can afford, compared to all the other things we need to do with the team."