BUTTON EXPLAINS McLAREN SWITCH

JENSON BUTTON says his move to McLaren is all about the challenge and team principal Martin Whitmarsh has reiterated it is clearly not about the financial rewards on offer.

The world champion is keen to start working in tandem with Lewis Hamilton in an eye-catching all-British line-up next season.

After signing a "multi-year deal" with McLaren, the 29-year-old is sad to be leaving Brawn GP after the incredible success of last term but is already looking ahead to a new chapter in his racing career.

"It's always a difficult decision to leave a team when you've been there for so long," said Button.

"But life is all about challenges and, most important of all, it's about challenging yourself.

"So, although I won the World Championship with Brawn GP last year, and I'll never forget that, I was always adamant that I wanted to continue to set myself fresh challenges.

"It's fantastic that we'll be forming an all-British line-up," he said of the partnership with former champ Hamilton.

"I know that we both fly the flag with pride and I sincerely hope we can make the whole of the United Kingdom, as well as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes fans across the world, proud.

"Nothing means more to me than to be able to represent my country.

"This is a team that always goes racing to win and I'm looking forward to being part of that."

The deal marks the first time in Formula One history that a team has started the new season with a line-up featuring the two most recent world champions, and is the first pairing of two British world champions since Graham Hill partnered Jim Clark at Lotus in 1968.

Button has reportedly agreed a three-year deal worth £6million a season, a figure which, if accurate, is far below what has been commanded by other world champions in recent seasons.

And McLaren team principal Whitmarsh underlined the belief that Button's move from Brawn was not about the money.

"I want to make clear that Jenson's decision to join us was in no way motivated by money," said Whitmarsh.

"We'll be paying him no more than he could be getting elsewhere and that fact is a reflection of not only Jenson's belief in Vodafone McLaren Mercedes but also his desire and ambition to build on the phenomenal results he achieved during the 2009 season."

Button's new team-mate welcomed the arrival of his fellow Englishman while reserving special praise for the outgoing Heikki Kovalainen, his team-mate of the last two seasons who must now find a drive elsewhere.

Hamilton said: "It's fantastic news that Jenson has decided to join Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

"I'm looking forward to working with him and our engineers to make sure we kick off the 2010 season with a car that's competitive enough to win the World Championship, but I want to send my best wishes for the future to my 2008-09 team-mate and now good friend Heikki Kovalainen, who is one of the nicest human beings I've ever met."

He added: "I already know Jenson and we get on very well together. We both really want our team to succeed.

"Although we'll be pushing each other hard, I'm sure we'll very quickly establish a great working relationship.

"He's an exceptional driver, very controlled and very smooth, and he has a real depth of knowledge and experience. I think we'll complement each other very well."

Reuters fact box on Button:

* The 29-year-old is Britain's 10th Formula One world champion, following on from his new team-mate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton.

* He leaves BrawnGP, who will become Mercedes Grand Prix in the 2010 season, to join McLaren in an all-English line-up of champions.

* Button has started 171 grands prix and won seven, six of those victories coming in the first seven races of this season.

* The Englishman makes his Formula One debut with Williams in Australia in 2000 after winning a"shoot-out" with Brazilian

Bruno Junquiera for the seat vacated by Italian Alex Zanardi.

* In only his second race, in Brazil aged 20, he becomes the youngest driver to score a point (a feat since surpassed by Germany's Sebastian Vettel).

* He moves to Benetton, later Renault, in 2001 and then to BAR in 2003 when he also has the biggest crash of his career at

the Monaco Grand Prix.

* Button signs for Williams in 2004 but a contract recognition board rules he has to stay with BAR for 2005. He then has to spend millions to buy himself out of the Williams deal to stay with BAR (renamed Honda) in 2006.

* Button wins his first grand prix with Honda in Hungary 2006, his 113th start.

* After two dismal seasons, his place in Formula One looked doubtful at the end of last year when Honda announced their departure from the sport. He is thrown a lifeline when team principal Ross Brawn leads a management buyout.

* In a dream debut season, he wins the championship with a race to spare at the Brazilian Grand Prix while BrawnGP take the constructors' title.

* Button's parents are divorced and he has three sisters. His father John, a former rallycross driver, attends most of his races. His girlfriend, Jessica Michibata, is a lingerie model of Argentine-Japanese parentage.

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