McLaren willing to revise Jenson Button’s contract to keep him with the side – Formula 1 news
It has been revealed that McLaren are willing to revise the 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button’s contract in order to keep him with the side for at least another year.
The pay raise would be an attempt to keep the former champion from making a move to Ferrari who have shown their interest in the British driver.
Ferrari currently have the two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa as its two drivers but since Massa has not been able to perform up to the mark since his return in 2010, the team has now finally decided to replace him in 2012.
However, Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari recently stated that the team will keep Felipe Massa for another year.
Either way, due to these rumours and Jenson Button’s recent statement that “he has an option on him for next year,” maybe McLaren just wanted to make sure and confirm Jenson’s stay at the team by increasing his pay.
Other than that, Button has also stated that he is not willing to sign a new long-term contract with McLaren anytime soon.
This is a huge blow to McLaren as they currently have a dream drivers’ line-up which is much better than Ferrari or even Red Bull Racing team since both of them have just one race-winning driver in the team currently. In contrast, both Lewis Hamilton and
Jenson Button have won races this year.
As a result, McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh stated that he is hoping to sign the former world champion with the team on a long-term basis but it seems that Button is trying to gain some time before considering his options.
The report also revealed that McLaren are quite happy with Jenson’s performances and that they would be more than happy to sign him with the team with “some improvements in his contract” for 2012 at least.
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