Hill Calls for Renault to Keep Button

Former World Champion Damon Hill on Wednesday warned Renault against ditching fellow Briton Jenson Button from their team next season after rumours that the young driver will be replaced by Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

And Hill, who won the World Championship with Williams in 1996 before being sensationally dumped by the team, has called for Button to push hard on track to prevent them forcing him out.

"You are always hoping every race is a better result and it is certainly hard to kick a driver out when he is driving well," Hill said. "It would be great for him to stay at Renault. If they were going to replace Jenson with someone who is proven I could understand it, but I don't understand replacing him with someone who has not done much."

Alonso, who is currently a test driver for the Renault team, has a management contract with Renault boss Flavio Briatore that would see the long-standing Formula One broker secure a percentage of any race deal the 20-year old was given.

Button, meanwhile, is contracted to rivals Williams, but has already spoken to several teams, including Jaguar, as he searches for a place on the grid in 2003 with Williams unlikely to make space.

Hill claimed that his former boss Frank Williams could still take Button back in the future. "I think he could return there, and I think it would be great," he said. "But Frank will not take him back until all the rough edges are knocked off. I think there is still some maturing for Jenson to do, but every year that goes by he is getting stronger and better.

"I was interested to hear that he is not interested in the money, he is more interested in getting into the right team and that is exactly the right thing at this stage in his career to get him as high up the grid as possible.

"I have been really impressed with Jenson. Generally speaking he is very conscientious in his driving. He had a difficult year last year and he has bounced back from that pretty well. He is still very young and if you look, Rubens (Barrichello) is up there now. He is putting a lot of pressure on Michael Schumacher and that has taken him ten years."