Everything's not rosy at title-winning Brawn Thursday 22nd October 2009 - PlanetF1.com They may have just wrapped up the double in their debut season, but all is not well in the Brawn GP camp, according to a report. Jenson Button sealed his maiden Drivers' Championship in Brazil on Sunday while the team won the Constructors' trophy in their first year under the Brawn banner. The Briton's though is yet to sign a new deal with the team for the 2010 season and he is unhappy with the offer on the table as it's "only marginally higher" than his current deal. Button is apparently not the only one unhappy at Brawn and morale among staff at the Brackley factory is not what it should be for a team who just won two trophies. The Telegraph claims that 'Button is not the only malcontent. A number of senior engineering staff are said to be upset over bonus arrangements. 'News of the discontent at Brawn has filtered down the pit lane prompting rival teams, including Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, to attempt to lure the top brains behind the championship-winning car with lucrative job offers.' Brawn chief executive Nick Fry, though, insists he is unaware of any unhappiness in the camp. "No one has said anything to me about this," Fry told the paper. "I am extremely surprised. We will look into any concerns that people have, though I am not aware of any. As far as we are concerned these are internal matters but if there is an issue with anybody we are quite happy to talk to them about it. "Salary negotiation is not something we do in public. However I will say that any and all contractual bonuses will of course be paid. We will be sitting down with Jenson after Abu Dhabi to discuss his contract."
Well what is more important to you Jenson more wins or more money, I would think that would speak for itself. Strange as it is, it's not the best bargining position when you have a car as good as it is. Of course the danger Brawn may have is losing it's top engineers to other teams IF there is discontent.
Steve an interesting precedent has been set: Good not amazing driver, fantastic car with early advantage, big lead after 7 races, steady and notable performance overall = World title. Teams have noticed they dont need FA or Schumi - they need smooth sound driver and amazing car. Less money involved at the human end and more in the development end. Kimi is being priced out and FA makes less than Kimi did moving to Ferrari. Maybe its time to pay the engineering talent more and drivers less.
Well, it's obviously the winning... otherwise he wouldn't have bought himself out of that move to Williams to remain at Honda. And then he took a dramatic pay cut to remain with a team that had an uncertain future on the grid (but probably a good car design), when he probably could have found a move to another team with a guaranteed grid line-up. There's obviously a marketing and promotional advantage to having the number 1 on your car... and that'll go with Jenson Button. He knows this, just as ever previous F1 WDC has known this, and he wants to make sure it's not just the team that gets all the benefits of that. If the salary increase really is only marginal for all the benefits that will be enjoyed, then I think Jenson Button is being reasonable holding out for a little bit more. All the best, Andrew.
I'd imagine that Brawn has its problems for next year. Due to european labor laws, Honda basically paid the factory salaries for this year, despite having dropped out. Brawn is going to need real sponsors to stay in the game. They're not going to run the team on the Concorde funds alone. So they don't have a lot of cash to throw at drivers. Button took a pay cut rather than get tossed out into the "also ran" driver market this year, but I'd guess that Brawn doesn't have all that much more to pay him for next year. If Bernie/Max are worried about factory teams suddenly dropping F1, what 'till they see how the "garagistas" fare in an unstable economy.
Well Jenson is a worthy WDC IMO he showed that in Brazil, with his do or die approach consistant he is, overtaking skills good, bringing the car home good, driving in the wet good. We can only guess at the pay deals worked out, but I'am sure he will agree to them to stay with Brawn, the engineers are very important your right. In real terms his gamble with Honda was not a good one. When it was BAR with Dave Richards it was looking okish to good, when Honda bought the whole lot it just kept going down hill the results were not good, hence them pulling out. However Ross B made things happen, and thats it. Yes marketing and promotional PR feature big time in F1, I feel the new teams need to get to terms with this quickly.
Let us not forget Merc is going to play a big part at Brawn now, so I doubt there not going to go to far down the pan
I understood that Mr E had advanced the Concorde money to this season, therefore they will only get the difference. And Mercedes aren't going in for any more than McLaren would cost.
I am sure the team have a decent budget in place for next year and this is just a daft story based on unsubstantiated rumours. However it wouldn't be the first time a British F1 Champ has been let go by his team - although it's usually been a Williams trick.
I hope Brawn can gain some additional funding and be strong again. The car was fantastic and even at the end, fastest and certainly the most consistent performer over time.
The interesting thing was that with such a good start to the season, they froze development pretty early on and have been working on next year's car for a while now. I reckon they're in good shape for next year. All the best, Andrew.
I am happy Button won the championship, but lets face reality. Jenson Button got lucky Ross took over the team, and that the rule change played out to his favor. I think had Brawn not been team principle Jenson would have been another "also ran" again. That coupled with the previous relationship Rubens had with Brawn when the both of them where at Ferrari also had to help tremendously in the development of the car. The rule changed helped them tremendously at the beginning of the season, as the big names were way behind on development due to the focus on winning the '08 championship. So when '09 started they had to play catch up and it was until just about mid season that the rest of the field started to make ground in development. How many constructors championship has Ross been part of? Two with Benetton '94 & '95, six in a row with Ferrari '99-'04, and now one on his own team Brawn '09. So a track record of 9 titles to Ross' credit, and Button just BARELY has one. Sorry but Jenson was the lucky party here.
I doubt we will hear Jenson Button qoute Jimmy Clark "The car was so good you could have put a monkey in the seat and won" or R.B. Statements like that are hard on pay talks. This team was a bigger factor in winning than the driver.
You could say the same about Schumacher. We will never know how much of a factor Ross was in all of his championships. All we do know is that Ross has 2 without MS and MS has 0 without Ross. Luck and timing are part of what it takes to win a championship in F1.
What did Button accomplished while at Honda? We all know the answer to that. You put Vettel in Brawn car and that's your next year wdc. Button will be back in middle of pack where he belongs. I would love for Brawn to drop Button to prove my point.
I think the Newey designed Red Bull car is the best car on the grid now. Vettel is a great driver but the RB car is a great car. Newey is up there with Brawn when it comes to designing cars. I think they even have a similar number of championships between them. So lets swap Button and Vettel next year and see what happens. I have no idea who would win but it would be interesting.
What did anyone do while they were at Honda. Whilst you maybe right put Hamilton Kimi or Alonso in a Brawn car that's IF the car is as good as this years and you have the same result also they are proven winners so what!!. It's not rocket science. Tell that to Ross Brawn, He had faith in him and the last time I looked he bagged a WDC. Yet again thats up to Ross Brawn. It would only prove that given the right car Jenson along with a few other drivers could get a WDC as long as they beat there team mate, yet again last time I looked he did that. So what is your point other than the simple fact you just don't like him.
Brawn's talents go beyond design. That's why he's been so successful at a number of different teams. No slight on Newey, the Red Bull is a great car.
My neighbor's brother is an aerodynamic engineer with them--I sent him a message asking if he's heard anything.
Button is champion because of the clever engineering of the Brawn team giving him and Rubens a huge head start. Plain and simple. But that's racing. I commend the ol' boy for driving his heart out in Brazil to attempt to put an exclamation point on a dud of a championship. Where has this driving been most of the year Jens? Wonder if he'll merely cruise at "Button Speed" for the final race?
