Button reveals Red Bull talks as he ‘tried to get out’ of F1 team

After Honda pulled the plug on their F1 operation at the end of the 2008 season, Ross Brawn rescued the team for just £1 and rebranded the squad as Brawn GP. 

The team would go on to enjoy a fairytale 2009 campaign, winning both the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships, with Button claiming his sole world title. 

Brawn’s achievement in Brawn's first and only F1 season is regarded as one of the sport’s biggest upsets. 

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Button revealed his manager spoke to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner over a possible switch as the Briton assessed his future. 

 “I tried to get out of it, because the team didn’t look like it was going to exist,” Button said.

“So I asked around and my manager spoke to Christian Horner about a drive at his team and the junior team and they said: ‘No, all the contracts are done.’”

Button won six of the first seven races as he took advantage of Brawn’s early dominance to establish a title lead he never relinquished, despite a late-season surge by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. 

“We found some people that were interested in owning the team, but I don’t think it would have worked out that way,” Button added.

“Ross coming in and actually buying the team for a pound, with his leadership, is a big reason why this worked out.

“We had to cut and shut the car as well. The car was made to work with one type of [Honda] engine and then we had to go and ask – plead – for somebody to give us an engine to put in the back, to fit it in the car. A lot of money was spent on this car.

“It’s not a fluke that we were competitive in 2009, but then we had to get another engine and the guys did an amazing job of fitting it together.

“We went testing, we were quickest at the first test that we did and everyone had been testing for days before that.

“So that’s when it clicked and we thought we’ve got something strong.” 

Brawn would go on to become Mercedes in 2010 while Vettel claimed his first of four consecutive world titles with Red Bull.