Jenson Button says he is keen to finalise a new contract with Brawn and will not let salary questions become a stumbling block in discussions with the team that took him to the world title.
The new championhas yet to complete a deal for 2010, and although he had always been thought likely to stay on at Brawn, there had been rumours of an impasse over his wages.
Button volunteered to take a big pay cut and to cover his own travel expenses this year to help keep the team afloat in the wake of Honda's pull-out.
But with a world title under his belt now, and Brawn's situation a lot more secure, there were suggestions that he would be seeking a pay rise and that this was why a 2010 deal had yet to be announced.
In a press conference during a homecoming event at Kent's Bluewater shopping complex today, Button insisted he wanted to stay at Brawn above all else and would not let money become an issue.
"For me the most important thing in my career has always been to be in a competitive car, and this year was the first year I've really been in that position," he said.
"I want to continue achieving in the sport, I'm not one of these drivers that's going to be looking for a new team that can pay me a big amount of money - that's not what I'm about.
"I want to go and win races again, I want to be with Brawn, we just haven't discussed it during the season - which was the right thing to do so we could just concentrate on getting the titles wrapped up.
"Now we can sit down and discuss it a bit more."
Well aware of the gossip about his potential financial demands, Button joked: "I'm not that expensive, not compared to some drivers..."
But he reiterated that he had put competitiveness before money this year and had no qualms about taking a financial hit to be part of Brawn's revival
"When you drive the car that I'm driving, you'd give up pretty much anything," he said.
"It was worth it."
He also pointed out that he had a long history with the Brawn personnel, having joined the team in its BAR guise in 2003 and stayed through the turbulent Honda factory period.
"I've experienced so much with this team - I joined them in 2003 and a lot has changed since then," said Button.
"We've been through some fantastic times, a lot of very difficult times, and we've just achieved our first goal, which is to be world champions.
"But after that life goes on and you always want to achieve greater things, and that will be the aim, that's what I would like to do with Brawn next year, but we haven't discussed a contract yet."
He recalled that less than a year ago he had travelled to the team factory on the day of Honda's pull-out announcement wondering how he was going to raise his crew's spirits.
"I had to be the strong one speaking to all the people working there and trying to be positive, which was very difficult," said Button.
"I wasn't positive that things were going to work out for us, and it was a little bit emotional."
In those dark days, Button quickly dismissed any thoughts of looking for one of the handful of remaining 2009 drives or quitting the sport and vowed to stand by his team as it fought for its future.
"The options were to race with a team that I couldn't achieve what I wanted to with, to take a year out - which would have been a lot of fun but wouldn't have helped my career at all because people forget about drivers very quickly in this sport - or the other option was just to keep fighting and pushing the team to find a way of making it happen in 2009," he said.
Button also revealed that he had only briefly joined Brawn's title celebrations in Brazil on Sunday night.
"The team had a fantastic get together that I took part in for about 30 minutes then decided that was enough for me, headed back to my hotel, just sat on the bed thinking about what I'd achieved over the weekend - had a bit of 'me time', it was nice," he said.
"Then yesterday I had a few drinks with the big bear, Ross Brawn, and a few other members of the team, then got on a plane and headed back to the UK.
"I'm not going to forget any this moment for a very long time, if ever.
"Every morning between now and the start of next season, I'll wake up with a smile on my face."
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