Thursday, 12 November 2009
Given his history of making the wrong decisions at the wrong times, one feels somewhat nervous about Jensen Button's demands for higher wages at the small, independent company that saved him from obscurity at the start of this year. If he fails to sign the contract offered to him and holds out for more money, he'll only change the public perception of his championship. Instead of seeing him as a plucky upstart who stuck with a failing team through thick and thin, taking massive wages cuts just to race, he'll be seen as an ego gone mad, flushed with undeserved success, trying to wring every last pound out of a championship won by dint of being in the right car.
Besides, he knows Brawn have little more funding than they did last year, when Honda gave them enough to run throughout the entire year. In a way, the coming season will be the first when they will truly be independent of the Japanese giant. Brawn are having, for the first time, to live entirely on their wits and on the sponsorship and engine supply that they themselves can secure. If they had to divert funding from car development to driver wages, their product would be worth less, which means Button would be worth less. While I sympathise with Jenson's pride demanding more wages, his situation is really none too different from the start of last year and he should take their improved offer, which includes 'more freedom with sponsorship'; meaning Jenson can go and endorse burgers and jackets and so forth without Brawn taking a slice. In affect, Button would need to live on his wits in order to get paid the amount he thinks he deserves.
I think he will sign a contract very similar to the one currently on the table and if he doesn't I'd like to predict he'll never win a race again.
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