RE: F1's Button wants to stay at BAR

[Joe911]

On radio 4 this morning they said that "it cost Button £17m" to get out of Williams, and he gets paid £10m.
Why it would "cost Button" I'm not sure - I would assume BAR paid.

BBC main news site is more vague about the wonga ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4262010.stm

[flemke]

Joe911 said:

On radio 4 this morning they said that "it cost Button £17m" to get out of Williams, and he gets paid £10m. Why it would "cost Button" I'm not sure - I would assume BAR paid.

You can be sure that Wittle Jensey didn't reach into his own pocket for the dough.
The services contract in question would have been between Williams and Button. For that technical reason you would want any settlement to be between those two parties.
The funding obviously came from...er, I forget - which is Button's favourite team this week?

[RobbieMeister]

rubystone said:

£10m is a bargain - Williams should have held out for more and perhaps he has - truth is unlikely to come out in the short term, but look out for lots of Honda Civics in Grove car park next year Precedent set - Mercedes re-equipped Sauber with new vehicles as part of the Raikkonen deal

Yea but......Honda can sell all the cars they make!

[55jnj]

The nuts & bolts of the deal are as I suggested they would be on 31st July. I'm simply staggered however at a reported £10m salary for an OK (but no more) driver of questionable morals.

[flemke]

55jnj said:

I'm simply staggered however at a reported £10m salary for an OK (but no more) driver of questionable morals.

It seems daft, doesn't it?
Then you hear about a brainless drug-addict model who continues to pull down millions a year and you're reminded that life makes no more sense now than it ever did - or ever will.

[p490kvp]

If Formula 1 still visited the old Nurburgring then they'd earn their money and I suspect would be happy to drive for that experience alone!

[flemke]

p490kvp said:

If Formula 1 still visited the old Nurburgring then they'd earn their money and I suspect would be happy to drive for that experience alone!

In other words, they'd truly earn their money, but wouldn't accept it!
On second thought...

[JonRB]

Interesting comments from Eddie Jordan in the press today - basically saying Button has to be careful not to become perceived as "tainted goods" with a reputation of not being able to be relied upon to honour even a watertight contract.