Button will take pay cut

Button broke his silence on Monday over the split with BAR, which was made public on the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix last month. Although he says he would make more money if he remained with the Brackley-based team, Jenson is adamant that the main reason for his return to Williams, with whom he made his grand prix debut in 2000, is the chance to become world champion.

"I had a two year contract with BAR, I've done the best possible job for them so far and will continue to do so," said Button. "My move to Williams is purely because I want to be a world champion and they give me the best chance. It is definitely not a money issue. If I was at BAR I would be earning more money next year."

Button did allow that some outstanding contractual issues added to his desire to leave BAR.

"I can't talk about contractual issues, but one of the reasons I want to move on is that I'm not 100 percent happy at the team," he said. "We tried to resolve them, but to no avail."

Button also blamed BAR team principal David Richards for his handling of the situation, saying that the situation only blew up after it was leaked to the press.

"We had spoken to Williams beforehand," he said. "Through John Byfield [Jenson's manager] I spoke to BAR, and thought that would be best him speak to DR originally because it was on the contractual side. And then, immediately after, we were going to organise a meeting with whole of factory to run through what my goal was for the future - that I wanted to leave and move to another team. That wasn't possible. As soon as John spoke to DR it was leaked to the press, and the only person who knows why that happened is DR himself."

On the subject of the upcoming Contracts Recognition Board ruling, which will decide which team he drives for next season, Button said: "It will be resolved at the CRB and then we can move on."