Williams Rejected $45 Million Button Buy-Out

Jenson Button's manager David Robertson said on Thursday that Williams turned down a 30-million-pound ($45-million) offer to buy out the young Briton's five-year contract.

In the wake of Button's loan move to Benetton for the 2001 and 2002 seasons, Robertson said that he wanted to buy the 20-year-old out of his Williams contract to make him a free agent.

Williams, however, have retained the right to recall Button in 2003 and 2004 if Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who is expected to replace Button at Williams, does not measure up.

"I tried to buy Jenson out of his contract with Williams," said Robertson. "(Team boss) Frank Williams wouldn't even consider it. The sort of figure we were talking was 30 million pounds, but he was not interested.

"He realises what a talent he has on his hands. He wants to see how good Montoya will be in Formula One, while Jenson continues to develop elsewhere. To be fair, it is a pretty shrewd move."

Robertson said the move to Benetton does not signal that Williams have lost faith in Button, who has scored eight championship points in his debut season.

"Thirty million pounds is a lot of money, so if Frank wouldn't accept that he must think a lot of Jenson. It shows they have not lost confidence in him. This is a great move for him. It was our job to find him a competitive team and that is what we've done. We 're thrilled."

Robertson confirmed that he had spoken to several other teams about signing Button, including British American Racing, Jordan and Jaguar, "to hedge our bets."

He added: "Just because he has signed for Benetton doesn't mean he'll stay there. There is a very, very good chance he will go back to Williams in 2003."