Team principal and owner Ross Brawn said he hoped a deal could be settled within two weeks of the final race in Abu Dhabi this coming weekend, although it could come sooner.
Formula One world champion Jenson Button is 99% certain to stay with the Brawn team next season, team principal and owner Ross Brawn said on Sunday after reports linking the Briton with rivals McLaren.
"Jenson is obviously a great driver and for those teams without their full complement of drivers, he's got to be a target," Brawn told BBC radio. "We want Jenson to stay in the team and I think we'll find a solution.
"Jenson has a contract with us but of course that contract is not the salary of a world champion, not the salary of a team that's now in a much stronger position than it was 10 months ago. "We are working with Jenson to find a balance between what we can afford and what he feels is fair for his status and contribution he can make in the future.
"You are never 100% (certain) but I'd say 99," he added when asked how sure he was that Button, who clinched the title in Brazil this month with a race to spare, would be staying.
Brawn said he hoped a deal could be settled within two weeks of the final race in Abu Dhabi this coming weekend, although it could come sooner. Button took a hefty pay cut, reported at around 5 million pounds ($8.33 million), before the start of the season to drive for Brawn after the team emerged from the remains of the former Honda Racing with far more limited resources.
The 29-year-old was rewarded for his loyalty with a title that would have seemed impossible a year ago but he now wants to have his salary restored to a level more appropriate for a champion. Recent media reports in Britain had suggested Button could team up with 2008 world champion and compatriot Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.
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