By Andrew Benson
**New world champion Jenson Button has emerged as a contender to join Lewis Hamilton in what would be a mouth-watering line-up at McLaren in 2010.**The Englishman has yet to sign a new contract for Brawn and McLaren are interested having so far failed to secure first choice Kimi Raikkonen.
“We’ve talked to a number of drivers,” said team boss Martin Whitmarsh.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate to say more than that. We’ll hire the two best drivers available as we always have.”
Raikkonen, who is also being chased by Toyota after being forced to leave Ferrari to make way for Fernando Alonso, has not yet decided on his future and McLaren are exploring other possibilities.
Their back-up plan if Raikkonen turned them down was to retain his fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen, despite their reservations about his performances in races.
But following Button’s failure so far to agree terms on a new contract with Brawn, they are now understood to be interested in him - which would put the two most recent world champions, and two Britons, in one highly marketable line-up.
606: DEBATE
“From a British point of view this would be fantastic if McLaren signed Button to go with Hamilton”
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BBC Sport has so far been unable to contact Button on Friday.
The Button-McLaren link first emerged in two national newspapers on Friday but it is understood there is substance in the story.
Button said on Tuesday that he and Brawn had yet to start substantive negotiations on a new deal.
Sources in F1 say the two parties have so far failed to agree on Button’s salary.
He took a pay cut from £10m to £3m over the winter to help secure the survival of Brawn, which emerged from the ashes of the Honda team after the Japanese company decided to quit F1 last December.
But now he is world champion he is said to be looking for a pay rise more substantial than the one Brawn are offering.
McLaren, one of the better funded teams on the grid, would be able to pay more money than Brawn.
Button may also consider that McLaren are likely to have a faster car than Brawn in 2010, having already overtaken them for pace this year despite a poor start to the season.
But Button might be wary of teaming up with Hamilton, who is widely regarded as the out-and-out fastest driver on the grid.
Cynics will claim that the Button-McLaren link could have been leaked for one of two reasons.
It could be either a means for Button to get Brawn to up their offer to him, or it could be a way of McLaren trying to persuade Raikkonen to make up his mind.
In the background, there is also the fact that McLaren’s long-term engine partner Mercedes is considering buying a large stake in the Brawn team, a move that is not popular in some parts of McLaren.