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November 10th, 2009

Brawn: Rivals unsettled Button

Ross Brawn has accused his Formula One rivals of trying to unsettle Jenson Button during his march to the world title.

After clinching the championship in Brazil just over two weeks ago, a relieved Button spoke of the pressures he was under in attempting to close out the season following his phenomenal start.

It would appear amongst those pressures were teams attempting to prise away the 29-year-old from Brawn GP and sign a contract with them for next season. Confirming other teams have, and still are, trying to lure Button as he “has some offers”, Brawn told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Our business is incredibly competitive.”

He added: “There were people, when they became aware of Jenson’s contractual situation, who tried to unsettle him during the championship.

“He knew some of those tactics were for that reason.”

A move to McLaren is currently one of the options on the table for Button, who has made it clear he would prefer to remain at Brawn.

However, there is an impasse over his salary demands, of which Brawn said: “Jenson wants a very competitive car and he wants a reasonable salary.

“If we offer those two things we’ll find a reasonable solution. I’m pretty optimistic. It’s not a situation we would have planned, to be at this stage without the world champion tied up, but all the talks have been positive so far.”

A deal for Nico Rosberg has already been concluded, however Brawn insist the German will not be confirmed until the issues around Button have been resolved.

“Once we’ve got Jenson sorted we’ll be announcing our whole package, and we want to make an impact when we do that,” confirmed Brawn.