Yes, one unit of last year’s championship winning car was owed to Jenson Button and he finally got what was promised after taking legal action against former team Brawn GP, which is now Mercedes GP.
How did this come about? Apparently, Button took a big pay cut when Honda left F1 but added a clause in his contract that will see him keep the chassis of his car if he won the 2009 Championship. “In the event that the driver wins the championship at any time during the term, the company shall transfer … ownership of one chassis of the type driven by the driver during that winning season,” read the clause. Of course, that scenario didn’t seem to be very possible when the season started, but we all know what happened after a few races.
Reports say that the reason Mercedes GP couldn’t hand over the prize was because of chassis shortages. Mercedes offered to build a replica of the BGP001 car, but the Brit refused saying that it lacked the “special and unique” value of the cars he actually drove to the title. It is believed that six BGP001 cars were made.
Facing court action, Mercedes GP reluctantly gave in and gave the car to Button. “We have arrived at an amicable resolution, and so there will no longer be any court action over this,” the driver’s spokesman confirmed.
Source
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i believe he will eventually sell the car for a profit. smart guy.
Cool, luckily it is stated in the contract. Have fun with your toy, Jenson Button.
first thing came out of my mine, imagine button drive his car to supermarket.hehe
Way the go Button, this time you can show off your latest trophy to the TopGear team!
On another note, with no disrespect, I seriously find the Celcom blue banner at the bottom extremely irritating and there’s no way to close it? It has further shrunked my already small screen. :(
Well done Jenson Button, you earned what’s due to you.
good for him
Good. Got the car and sell the parts back to its competitors! Make more $$$! :D
That car IS priceless.
you the man, you earned it :)
Chassis only, no engine?
when u buy car, did salesman give you tires and seats?
paul… this is old news…
why keep the car ? take the cash is better right ?
is not like you can drive it to buy groceries.
for memory sake, a replica put in the house should be good enough….
thats why he is the champion, and you’re not, as if he dont have enough money. go check wat car is he driving.
F430. how bout u?
That car is a good investment. In 20 years to come. The price will be multiplied.
wow..
thats really crazy.
an original f1 for own use….
i want one too…
balik kampung sure will patah all the aero-dynamic.
:)
maybe next time he will asking for the current MP4 car he drove now..hehe
mkrafz: it’s not even road-legal la.. heheh
that is chassis only laa.. no engine… what use? display on his house roof can aa.. like hard rock one.. hahhaa….
maybe he planned to put go kart engine inside for his son to toy with.
Whoa….can’t believe my eyes reading some of the comments here?
Have you guys not won any medals? School sports? Debates? Quizzes? Spelling? Etc?
The medal is just a piece of plastic covered by gold/silver/bronze colour. The piece of plastic itself is worthless. The thing that it represents is PRICELESS.
For Jenson Button the chassis is indeed PRICELESS. The real thing. That words can’t describe.
Go and win something. Then you’ll know.
good argument, point well taken.
Good vision Jenson! Now tell us why did you dump you hot chic Jessica?
no the chassis implies the entirety of the car, engine, gearbox, transmission, brakes, etc. i don’t know if tires fit into the deal but i’m sure he could just pick up a set from mclaren. however from what i hear, he only used one chassis throughout the entire season… which means he makes a huge profit and brawn (now Mercedes) looses a shit ton of money, especially considering that they were garenteed to have a buyer for it in the sultan of brunai, who “possesses a Formula One car as driven by every Formula 1 World Drivers Champion since the 1980 Formula One season, particularly the ones driven in the last race for each season” and is willing to pay allot for them.