Ross Brawn has revealed that Jenson Button is "99 per cent certain" to stay with the Brawn GP team next season.
Deal should be finalised two weeks after Abu Dhabi
Ross Brawn has revealed that Jenson Button is "99 per cent certain" to stay with the Brawn GP team next season.
Talks are continuing with the newly-crowned world champion and it has been reported Brawn GP are prepared to offer the Briton close to £8million-a-year.
Button took a £5million pay cut when former team owners Honda pulled out last December, and even agreed to pay for his own flights and hotel bills this season.
But with other teams now coveting the driver's services, Brawn F1 look set to reward him with a huge salary hike.
Brawn said: "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.
"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."
Asked if he is 100 per cent sure Button will stay, Brawn told the
BBC: "You're never 100 per cent - but I'd say 99 per cent."
Brawn expects the situation to be resolved within a fortnight of the final grand prix in Abu Dhabi next week.
He added: "It's really difficult going into Abu Dhabi, because obviously we still want to put up a good performance there - and it's not the best environment.
Target
"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.
"We have a finite amount of resource, money, whatever - and we have to look at the best way of spending that. It's not money that's going to the shareholders; it's money that's going into the team to invest and to buy the things we need to be competitive in the future.
"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."
