Brawn hoping to keep Button for 2010

Jenson Button is moving towards signing to remain with Brawn GP beyond 2009, the team's chief executive said on Sunday.

29-year-old Button agreed to screw up a lucrative long-term contract ahead of this season, that was inked before big-spending Honda decided to pull out of Formula One.

"I could have taken the money and run -- because it was a lot of money," the Briton told The Times earlier this week. "But what would be the point? What was I going to do with it?"

In its place, Button agreed a single-year deal on a much reduced retainer for 2009, and CEO Nick Fry believes the winner of 6 Grands Prix is now likely to renew it.

"My objective and our objective is to have him for the rest of his career. Nothing's changed on that front," said Fry, who collected the winning constructor's trophy from the Monaco podium on Sunday.

"I think it's mutual that he would like to stay with the team. After the performance - five race wins - we should be able to get something together," he told the BBC.

Fry, however, admitted that the value of a driver that has won more than 80 per cent of the races so far this year is certain to have gone up since his haul of a measly 3 points in 2008.

"I'm sure he will be sitting there with his people and they're thinking that his price is going up the whole time," he said. "But maybe the sponsorship for the team is going up too, so maybe we can afford it."