No early contract release for Button - Fry

Angry Brawn chief executive Nick Fry has announced pre-emptively that Jenson Button will not be released to commence work for his new team McLaren in the remaining days of 2009.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the 29-year-old new world champion is under contract until the last day of December.

"Jenson will not be doing anything at all for McLaren until the end of this calendar year," said Fry.

"And if he does, we will be looking on it very dimly."

He suggested that Brawn/Mercedes' position, after their title successes of 2009 and a cooperation dating back seven years, was prompted by Button's "signing process" with McLaren.

It is rumoured, for example, that Button's recent visit to McLaren's Woking headquarters was technically in breach of his existing contract.

"There are other constraints on what Jenson can do between now and the end of the year which we will be rigorously enforcing," Fry added.

A McLaren spokesman told the Daily Mail: "We haven't asked Brawn GP to release Jenson early, so this isn't really an issue for us."