There are some wild rumours going around about just where Jenson Button is going to end up for the 2010 F1. Stories persist that Button had expectations of his salary going back up to £8 million – the mark that he was at prior to Honda bowing out of F1 before Brawn swooped in. Apparently though, Ross Brawn isn’t too keen to go all the way back up to that salary point following the £3 million that was paid to Button this year, despite him being the world title holder.
It’s unfortunate to say, but it’s hardly unexpected. Button is a talented driver but has been accused previously of joining and following teams for the money, rather than for the winning car. Having a winning car does put him in a stronger position when it comes to the negotiating team, but given a number of team members were actually paid off when Brawn came in (they operate as a smaller outfit than Honda did) it would be a little bit sickening to see that.
The alternative that Ross Brawn has put forward is to allow Jenson to go ahead and get more sponsorship deals. This seems very much more fair to me and F1 one drivers are not strangers to this kind of setup. It’s well known that some drivers don’t get a salary at all, but are paid exclusively by sport sponsors.
Of course, this leads us to an interesting dilemma of what exactly will happen if Jenson feels that he’s worth more than Brawn (whilst hugely successful this past season are still a small team) can offer? Well, this brings us back to the rumour that he may join Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, who are known to offer salaries only lesser than Ferrari – the oldest team on the grid. Ferrari is out for Button due to a dearth of drivers and it’s unlikely that Jenson would join one of the newer teams. But, much like Rossi and Lorenzo in Moto GP, could you have two hugely successful drivers in the same team? It didn’t seem to work so well for Barrichello at Brawn…
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