Jenson Button will be the proud owner of his own 2009 championship winning F1 car after suing his former team, then Brawn GP, now Mercedes.
Reports suggest the 30-year-olds contract with Brawn GP included a contractual obligation, that, if he won the drivers championship, he would be rewarded with one of the BGP-001’s he drove to title glory.
However, as the team was almost immediately bought out by Mercedes, the contractual obligation became theirs. The German manufacturer said it couldn’t meet the demand due to the limited number built, thought to be six, thanks to the limited budget at the time.
Instead, the Brackley based team would create a replica car in August of this year, when F1 hibernates for two weeks.
Button, now driving for McLaren-Mercedes, refused the offer, stating a replica wouldn’t have the same emotional value as the real deal.
He decided to launch legal action against the team, however, his spokesperson recently confirmed that the two sides had come to an amicable agreement which would see Mercedes hand-over an original 2009 car to Button.
“We have arrived at an amicable resolution, and so there will no longer be any court action over this,” they told the Daily Mail.
The car, worth £1 million, will be added to Button’s growing car collection which includes a Ferrari Enzo, and a Bugatti Veyron which is currently on the market for £900,000.