Ecclestone slams Brawn amid Button dispute

Bernie Ecclestone has hit out at Brawn GP for not sewing up a deal with F1's new world champion Jenson Button.

Button, 29, has expressed his desire to stay with the Brackley squad in 2010, but is holding out for a return to the salary he was contracted to receive this year: about $13m.

To aid the Honda management buyout, the Briton agreed to slash his pay to about $5m, and also paid for most of his own travel and even laundry cleaning bills throughout his winning campaign.

So far, Brawn chiefs Ross Brawn and Nick Fry are refusing to accept Button's demands.

"They are being a little bit arrogant considering how long they have been in Formula One," said Ecclestone, the sport's chief executive.

"They should remember they have only been in the sport 10 minutes really," he is quoted as saying by the Mirror.

Button's manager Richard Goddard agrees that the situation, now spreading into rumours of a high-income switch to McLaren, is entirely Brawn's fault.

"A lot of quality seats may still be available so it's down to Brawn to make us an offer," The Sun newspaper quotes him as saying.