Button and BAR put on united front

Jenson Button and BAR boss David Richards put on a united front when they met the press at Interlagos today, and vowed to fight for the championship together next season. Button discovered yesterday that he could not move to Williams for 2005 after the Contract Recognition Board (CRB) ruled that BAR held a valid contract with him for next season.

Jenson Button.

Photo by Brousseau Photo.

Button will stay with BAR for 2005 but it's thought he is still aiming to move to Williams in 2006. For the moment, the Englishman admitted he was disappointed with the CRB's decision but is determined to keep BAR's good results coming next season.

"I'm not going to lie, it is a little bit disappointing," he said. "But you can't have everything in life. I think if you look at the last few months, with the difficult situation within the team, we've still been able to have some very good results. I think if we all stay focused for next season we can still have a very good year."

Richards is determined to put the matter to rest, although he conceded that there was some mending of fences to be done. "Probably at the end of the day we've come out stronger as a result of the situation, we'll certainly be more open and frank with each other than we ever have been before," he commented.

"There's no getting away from the fact that the situation has a bit of repairing to do behind it," Richards added. "There's no hiding from that. We've seen the issues, we've aired a lot of them in public between both of us."

Button had previously said his reason for wanting to move to Williams was that he believed the team offered him the best chance of winning the title. Despite BAR's excellent season the team has yet to win a race, although Button has secured third place in the drivers' standings.

Richards said he understood Button's desire to go to Williams and knows he has to prove that BAR can fight for the championship. "We've got to convince Jenson quite clearly," he said. "I say we can. There must be question marks over that but now we are committed to working together to make sure that happens next year."