upps!!!

 

"My Brawn GP Champions Polo shirt arrived today! "

 

So we can rule Glock out fo the Mercedes GP drive (if he was ever in contention) as he has signed for Manor http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80177

The general consensus from what I have read is Hamilton and Button at McLaren leaving Rosberg and Heidfeld at Mercedes GP. There is, what is referred to as, an outside chance of Button staying with Mercedes to partner Rosberg and Raikkonen re-joining McLaren or even more outside (given Kimi's salary demands) Rosberg and Raikkonen at Mercedes GP with Hamilton and Button at McLaren...

 

Button @ McLaren = greed

Button @ Brawn / Mercedes = ambition

Button may say he thinks McLaren will have a better car next year but he said that about Brawn when he joined them. That doesn't wash.

Button is currently favourite for SPOTY. This wrangle could knacker his chances of winning.

 

Sorry but Bollocks!

Button has a history of reducing salary expectations to move into what he believes will be the best car available. In case you forget, the only reason jenson was in the Brawn/Honda team in the first place was because he bought himself out of a Williams contract with his own money. Then he reduced his salary by more than half (10m - 3.5m) to stay with Brawn.

Now that the team has money and he has proved himself, he isn't even asking for the 10m that he was originally on. Even though he is now World Champion.

He's shown his loyalty, but IMO Brawn/Merc have not.

£10m is not a huge salary for a World Champion in the current F1 structure.

I'm not sure that McLaren will be a great move for him, as I think Hamilton is much better than him in a less than perfect car. But I can't blame him for going.

 

Whilst Brawn rose from the ashes of Honda at the start of last season, it was Honda money that developed the car. How much money has Ross Brawn been able to throw at the 2010 car? I seriously doubt the budget will bear any comparison to McLaren's, and perhaps that's what's driving Jenson's thinking.

 

is there not a budget cap? of lets say 50mill.

 

Theory has it that Mercedes want an all german driver line up hence the exit of Jenson.

I feel disappointed that the phoenix that was Brawn, a team built on a modest budget and massive F1 knowledge now cashs it all in to Mercedes.

Its totally taken the shine off for me. I was a massive fan of how Brawn achieved what they had. Now they all have to get new caps/outfits and the feel of 'the people who pulled together to make it happen' has gone in my view, it wont even feel the same.

I dont blame Ross though, it must be hard to raise capital. I blame Honda for that.

I hope they are not recruiting any new employees, i still feel for the Honda boys who got laid off.

 

So which F1 team to support next season?

Not a chance on Mercedes
Lotus lot will be a fad, despite Mike Gascoyne
McLaren? Not even if Button goes there

I suppose Williams would be the best bet

 

Not quite correct when Button was under contract with Williams he was loaned out to Honda. Button then decided Honda would be a better team so bought himself out of the Williams contract and signed a new contract with Honda which more than covered the cost of buying himself out of the Wiliams contract. Last year as his Honda contract was comming to an end Button signed a new deal with Honda thought to be between £10-8 million a year, only for Honda to anounce 3 weeks later that it was going to pull out of formula one. This left Button with no formula 1 drive but a very lucrative contract, so to enable him to try and negotiate a deal with another team (and so Honda didnt have to pay the 5 year contact) it was agreed by mutual concent to nullify it. By which time all the top seats were already taken leaving Button with the choice of signing for a midfield/backmark team for much less money or hoping Honda would find a buyer sign for them. When Brawn bought Honda they couldnt afford to pay Button what Honda could and nearly all the other F1 seats were taken so Button agreed to £3million contract with an agreement if the team did well they would up him salary to simalar levels as he was given by Honda.

I agree given the option i think if Merc offer him a 3 year contract he should take it as Mclaren is built around Hamilton and he has a much better chance of beating Rosberg than Hamilton. If Merc only offer him a 1 year contract so they get the number 1 next year then he should sign for Mclaren, they should still be able to offer a race winning car for the next few years which if he doesnt sign for Merc is more than any other team can give him.