Right. Button’s won the world championship so no need to bother hanging around lowly Brawn GP anymore, is there?
What’s that you say? Pay rise? Well, suppose he could stay after all a little longer…
Despite spending numerous years as the prototype playboy racer that BBM could only shake its head at and tut-tut, it seems even Jenson Button could avert his eyes from the pit girls long enough to cruise to the world title in a car taking advantage of a ‘loophole’.
But with that new shiny crown of his comes the batting of eyelashes from other teams who would simply love to have a world champion playboy driving for them. However, a no longer scrawny Brawn want to keep Button for themselves and are reportedly set to offer the Brit ?8 million a year to stare at the back of McClaren, Williams and Ferrari throughout next year.
Brawn said: “Jenson’s obviously a great driver, so he’s got to be a target. We want Jenson to stay in the team, and I think we’ll find a solution. Jenson has a contract with us. But that contract is not the salary of a world champion, not the salary of a team that is in a much stronger position than it was 10 months ago.”
“We’re working with Jenson to find a balance between what we can afford and what he feels is fair for his status and the contribution he can make in the future.”
A great advert for the game
AMERICAN FOOTBALL: The professional Commercial Break League – AKA the NFL – rolled once more into London last weekend to remind us Brits how to watch adverts.
Apparently, the UK have been doing it all wrong. Instead of watching them from your couch, it’s best if you dress up in tights, 80s-style shoulder pads and a helmet, then stand around in the middle of a field for an hour.
For the third year running a regular season NFL fixture took place in the UK when the New England Patriots’ out-watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35 commercial breaks to 7.
Thrilling.
RUGBY LEAGUE: BBM never knew that rugby league had a four nations tournament. But then we admit there is much we don’t know about, having grown up in a cupboard under the stairs. England, France, New Zealand and Australia are currently tussling it out to see who has the best meatheads.
England beat France 34-12 in their opening fixture, while the Aussies and New Zealand drew 20-20 in their opening game.
With England sitting pretty at the top of the table, it makes Saturday’s (31 October) fixture all the more important for convict cousins. And to be honest, normally the Aussies rip England a new one when it comes to rugby league.
France, meanwhile, face an uphill struggle and need to have beaten NZ if they are to avoid winning nothing more than the wooden spoon.
The remaining fixtures, France v Australia and England v New Zealand, take place on Saturday November 7, while the final goes ahead the following Saturday.
Quotes of the week
“I’LL be up front. During the season no one can point fingers because I am an exemplary sportsman, but vacations are there to enjoy and do what you want. This is my belief. And no, I do not have a girlfriend now. I have suffered like everyone who has loved. I am a sensitive person and I cry for love,” – Cristiano Ronaldo should count his sensitive self lucky that he wasn’t involved in Madrid’s farrago against third-tier Alcorcón last night, then.
“AM I a racist? I am a desperado and a bad boy and whether in England, France or Senegal, I sell papers. They try to find out things about me all the time. But I am mentally strong and they can’t hurt me. I get booed wherever I go, but I have never let my fans down. I am the leader. El Hadji Diouf is a star whether you like it or not. Everybody knows me,” – bashful Blackeye Rovers striker El Hadji Diouf provides a soundbite from the Nick Griffin school of question evasion.
“I KNOW very well what I have to do if I have the flu. It’s not a medical prescription. It’s my grandmother’s prescription – hot milk. Alcohol – red wine. Fantastic.”
– We’re not sure how many years Carlo Ancelotti spent at Medical School but his treatment for swine flu sounds great.
