The People claim Williams offers BAR $5.5m

By Phil Huff (24/10/2004)
November 10 2004

British tabloid 'The People' has today claimed that Frank Williams is prepared to hand over $5.5 million to Lucky Strike BAR Honda in return for Jenson Button.

The newspaper quotes an 'insider' as saying "Williams always said we would not start fighting for Button in the courts, but we are willing to pay money for him to drive for us next year.

"But Frank is not stupid and won't be forced to start paying over the odds because he simply hasn't got silly money to throw at BAR for him. The offer is a take-it-or-leave-it deal."

BAR boss David Richards has been quoted on many occasions saying that no amount of money could extract Jenson from the team. While additional revenue is always welcome, neither BAR or Honda would be prepared to let the driver go for such a small amount.

The news in The People follows on from a story last week where the paper quoted an unnamed 'insider' who is 'close' to Jenson Button, stating that the Englishman would sit out of the 2005 season if the CRB decision went against him.

The current top headlines at The People explain that a football player has taken drugs with a naked prostitute, that a separated TV presenter has had a date, and a record producers car suffered a dent to the front wing.