JENSON BUTTON £12M PAY CUT

That was price of keeping his drive with Brawn

LOOK BEHIND YOU - Jenson Button with the Terminator Salvation robot in Barcelona

From IAN GORDON in Barcelona, 09/05/2009

JENSON BUTTON admits his desperate offer to slash his own wages by 50 per cent has put him on course to become Formula One world champion.

Button asked bosses Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to cut his £8million-a-year salary in half in January to help save the team from the scrapheap. His new three-year deal has effectively cost him £12m.

Jenson roars to pole position - click here for full story

But as he got to grips with a killer robot yesterday to mark Brawn GP's £5m deal with the new Terminator Salvation movie, Button insisted: "It was the best decision I've made in my life.

"I am now paid a lot, lot, lot less but I didn't think about it twice. Every driver's manager will always go the other way and say, 'I want to get as much money for you as possible'.

"But my manager Richard Goddard and I came to an agreement that this was the only way it is going to work. We didn't know the team would still be around but it was the right decision."

Button, who raced to pole position for today's Spanish Grand Prix, knew without his offer he could lose his drive after Honda announced they were quitting the sport last November.

Team principal Brawn led a management buy-out just three weeks before the season started and the new Brawn GP team was born - even though 240 jobs at the Brackley factory were axed.

Question

Button is now 12 points clear at the top of the drivers' table after three wins this season and is on pole again for today's Spanish Grand Prix.

The 29-year-old Brit added: "I am not the only person who has taken a pay cut. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello has and so have the big guys. I am sure Ross has but I'm not going to ask him that question.

"When we were eight-year-old kids we didn't think, 'Wow, I want to be an F1 driver because I am going to earn a s**t load of wedge. After Honda's announcement, I did get a couple of options but not options I thought would further my career. As long as you don't have to worry about money, then racing is more important.

"That's why I held out for this team and helped out as much as I could. We didn't know what we could achieve with this car but we knew we could achieve more than we did last season."

Button has banked around £50m from his career so far, lives in Monaco and has a model girlfriend. But he insists all he cares about is how he will go down in F1 history. Before this season he had just one grand prix victory to his name from 155 starts.

And he admitted: "It would have been a tragic waste of my talent if I had left this sport with just one win. The problem is after two years in a car that was not competitive people forget you.

"To get another competitive drive would have been very difficult, if not impossible."

Your comments

This article has 2 comments

To Branimir Kukoc, Jenson has never had the privilege of being able to race a competitive car before this season. You clearly understand very little about F1 and the divide there has been between Maclaren, Ferrari and the rest for the past 10 years. Jenson is absolutely talented, as is Rubens, which emphasises further just how talented Jenson is. Also the current champion Lewis Hamilton cannot buy a win at the moment, he is also super talented, he hasn't suddenly lost his talent,no of course not, he's merely driving an uncompetitive car.

By Rob.. Posted May 17 2009 at 11:38 AM.

Button has been driving for too long without ANY results, and when comparing his estimated fortune of £50 mil to his number of wins (1) as of end of December last year, after 9 years in F1, makes him a TOP non-achiever in F1 history!
If he does get the preferential treatment at Brawn, he does not deserve it, because he is not special, only lucky to be driving a F1 car at all.
So why team orders?? Stop damaging the sport, which has already undergone a major surgery by pompous and stupendous FIA. Let the drivers race & let us enjoy the biggest spectacle on earth!

By Branimir Kukoc.. Posted May 11 2009 at 8:24 AM.

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