While McLaren would prefer to sign Button to a long-term deal now, rather than risk losing him in 2013, it looks as if they will run out of time before next month’s deadline for activating the option.
Both parties are clearly keen for the partnership to continue, with Button describing the weekend just gone in Belgium — where he finished third after a mistake in qualifying caused him to start the race 13th — as “probably the best weekend I have had with the team”.
“All Martin [Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal] has got to do is say ‘yes’ and I will say ‘yes’ because I want to be here next year,” Button said. “I want to fight for the championship. I am more confident now, more than I’ve ever been here. The car I really like and the direction we’ve taken with the car.”
Although the exact date of the deadline is unknown, the window for such clauses traditionally falls in September around the end of the European season and the start of the races in the Far East.
The danger for McLaren is that, with Button tied down for just one more year, he may choose to look elsewhere should the team have another dreadful start like this year’s.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber is only contracted for 2012 and the Milton Keynes-based team, homing in on a second successive world championship double, are known admirers of Button.
Ferrari, for whom Felipe Massa will also be out of contract next year, are also keen on the 2009 world champion who, like a fine wine, is maturing with age.
It is, however, unlikely McLaren will be so far off the pace at the start of next season with the technical regulations for 2012 remaining much the same as 2011 and the car basically an evolution of this year’s machine which is now very competitive.
Telegraph Sport understands that the will on both sides is to agree a long-term deal which will suit both parties.
Button will seek to cut down the number of PR days and sponsorship activities he must perform — McLaren are known to work their drivers harder than any other team — while the team, whose business model is sponsor-driven, will seek to strike the right balance between his salary and their commercial revenues. Button is believed to earn around £6 million per year at present.
Lewis Hamilton, whose McLaren contract ends at the end of 2012, and who like Button objects to the amount of PR time he is contracted to, is negotiating along similar lines.
Meanwhile, Whitmarsh has assured McLaren fans the team will continue to push and try to win the remaining seven races this year — rather than throw all their resources into 2012 — despite Red Bull’s and Sebastian Vettel’s overwhelming lead in both championships.
“The fans expect it,” Whitmarsh said. “If Ferrari or particularly McLaren say that we are going to freewheel now then I don’t think that is the right message. The fans deserve a stronger battle than that. The championship looks pretty ambitious but we have got to be positive.
“You review that emphasis all the time of course. In Belgium we had six performance modifications on the car. One of those came out of the development programme for next years’ car.
“We are always going to try and steal things form next year’s car. It is not a line you draw saying this is purely this year and on the other side of that line it is purely next year. I want the car to be quicker for the next race and the race after that. We are going to keep pushing.”
Source: The Telegraph
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