02/11/2004
NEWS STORY
Contrary to widespread speculation, WilliamsF1 will not be taking legal action against Jenson Button's management following the debacle involving the British driver's contract for 2005.
In its battle with BAR for Button's services, the Grove outfit is understood to have run up a legal bill of around £500k ($915k), and when the Contract Recognition Board (CRB) found in favour of BAR, it was widely assumed that WilliamsF1 would attempt to recover the money from Button's management, Essentially Sport.
In addition to the costs, WilliamsF1 has been left without its 'dream team' and is now looking to find a suitable driver to line up alongside Mark Webber.
A spokesman for WilliamsF1 told Pitpass, "We will not be taking any such action."
Although WilliamsF1 is out of pocket and missing a driver, it's thought that the reasoning behind the decision is not to inflame the situation any further, the team wants Button for 2006 and any action against his management might damage the relationship between the English driver and the team that gave him his F1 break.
That said, there remains speculation that BAR and David Richards might take action, while Button himself has blamed "bad advice" for the contract shambles.
Although the youngster is understood to have a water-tight contract with Essentially Sport, there are many within the paddock that feel his management team hasn't been doing enough for him, and that the relationship has been 'one-way'.
There are those close to Jenson that feel he could become the David Beckham of F1, a real media star. Yet to all intents and purposes his management don't appear to have risen to the challenge. Other than an advertisement for the BBC's digital service, the only other marketing campaign to feature the popular youngster is Burtons, a menswear company that manufactures the sort of clothing that few F1 drivers - of the current era - are unlikely to wear outside a photo-shoot.