London, May 26 (Inditop): Formula One driver Jenson Button, who has made a sensational start this year winning five out of six grand prix races, is all set to commit his long-term future to Brawn GP.
Button, who is leading the driver championships, is now the most sought after driver for a new contract by Formula One teams.
After Honda’s demise, Button was forced to give up his 8 million pound-a-year contract he had with the Japanese manufacturer. It led to Button signing a one-year deal with Brawn, resurrected from Honda’s ashes, and was forced to take a five million pound pay cut, The Independent reports.
The 29-year-old has since rewarded them handsomely by winning in Australia, Malaysia, Bahrain, Barcelona, and on Sunday in Monaco to lead the drivers’ standings by 16 points.
Brawn GP CEO Nick Fry feels such scintillating form will be enough to convince Button to stay, and ensure he is not tempted elsewhere.
“Jenson’s been with us a long time, and we’ve had failures and we’ve had successes. My objective, and our objective, is to have him for the rest of his career, and nothing’s changed on that front,” Fry said.
“It’s mutual that he would like to stay with the team, and after five race wins, we should be able to get something together.”
Asked as to whether Button’s value will rise further if he becomes world champion, Fry said: “I’m sure he and his manager are sitting there thinking his price is going up the whole time. But maybe the sponsorship for the team is going up too, so maybe we can afford it.”
With his win in Monaco, Button joined an all-star cast of drivers to have won five of the first six races after Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Michael Schumacher, the paper reports.
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