Button absent as Brawn celebrate in local town

Ross Brawn has declined to confirm reports that his Brackley based team has finally agreed a deal with Jenson Button.

The claim by the Swiss newspaper Blick seems unlikely, given that the 2009 champion elect was conspicuously missing during a team parade through the streets of Brackley on Monday.

Members of the locally based F1 team, winners of the constructors' title, rode through the Northamptonshire town in open-top buses, while team heads Brawn and Nick Fry sat on the back shelf of a Mercedes convertible.

Asked about Button - who is currently holidaying with his girlfriend in Japan - and the fact he is yet to be confirmed as an ongoing driver for 2010, Brawn said: "I can give you 99 per cent on Jenson Button (staying)."

The parties were recently several million pounds sterling apart on the amount of Button's retainer for next season.

Brawn added: "We have nothing more to say at this time except that we expect to be in good shape for next year."

He also refused to be drawn on the likely deepening of Brawn GP's collaboration with Mercedes, with Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claiming an announcement is due within days.

"No," answered 54-year-old Brawn, when asked if he would like to comment. "It's too early to say anything."