Button to Know Future Drive by Next Week

Jenson Button revealed on Thursday that he knows where he wants to drive in 2003 and is expecting to sign a "long-term" deal by the middle of next week, before the Grand Prix circus moves to Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix.

Speaking to reporters gathered in the Renault motorhome at Magny-Cours in the build up to this weekend's French Grand Prix, Button said: "After the weekend we will sort of know where we are and in the middle of next week you will know everything."

The deal is expected to be for at least two seasons, and Button believes it will offer him the chance to shine with an up-and-coming team that should give him a stable platform from which to build.

The young Briton is thought to have four options to choose from - British-based teams Jaguar and British American Racing, German-based Toyota and Swiss privateers Sauber - if, as appears almost certain, he is ousted from Renault at the end of the year.

"I think the teams I am talking to and the options I have got are teams that have got very good possibilities in the next couple of years," he said. "I am not too upset or worried - not at all actually."

Button's performances for Renault in the early part of the season showed he is back to form after a difficult season in 2001, but 20-year-old Renault test driver Fernando Alonso has been promised a race seat for 2003 by his manager and Renault team boss Flavio Briatore.

When talk began that Button would be forced out of the team earlier this year, he continued to insist that staying there would still be his favoured option, but on Thursday he added to suggestions he will leave the team by adding: "That was a few weeks ago. I have got other options."

Button all-but-confirmed rumours that he has recently visited the Sauber factory in Switzerland, but it remains unlikely that he will move there - because he knows it will be easier to work in a British based team.

"Did I go to Switzerland?...I was very low on chocolate at home so I thought I'd go and get some," Button joked when asked about his reported trip to Hinwil.

"I want to win races, it doesn't matter what country the team is from," he added. "But it is obviously nice to be with a British team because it is easier to work with the engineers and everything."

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine is likely to leave Jaguar at the end of the season, opening up a possible slot for Button at the Milton Keynes-based team, while Toyota are likely to let go of Scot Allan McNish. But British American Racing has become a strong possibility after current race driver Olivier Panis admitted his seat, previously thought of as firm for 2003, is still under discussion.

Strong Williams links within the BAR team, including former Williams World Champion Jacques Villeneuve and ex-Williams designer Geoff Willis, added to the speculation and in the FIA press conference on Thursday, Panis said: "We are discussing it (the future). There is an option."

Button's current teammate, Italian Jarno Trulli, insisted he does not know whether the Briton will stay or go, but suggested that the current situation offers no reason for any change in the driver partnership.

"I don't know what Jenson's situation is," said Trulli. "But until now he has been a very good teammate on both the personal side and the professional side, so I get on very well with him. We have a really good relationship."