Jenson Button, who McLaren confirmed on Friday will drive for them next year and who is negotiating a deal that will allow him to finish his career with the team, has confirmed that he would happily conclude his time in Formula One without driving for Ferrari.
The British driver, who was the fifth fastest in Saturday morning's final practice session behind the ominously quick Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, followed by Felipe Massa and team-mate Lewis Hamilton, said: "Would I happily retire without driving for Ferrari? Yes."
Although a drive for the Italian marque is seen as an essential part of all great drivers' careers, Button feels he has achieved his main aim already: "If you ask those same drivers if they want to win a world championship or drive for Ferrari, they'd rather win a world championship," he said.
Although an official deal has yet to be announced, the team principal Martin Whitmarsh confirmed that Button would be with the team next year. "Jenson will be here next year. We know that, he knows that. There's nothing complicated about it," he said.
However, Whitmarsh was keen that any deal struck would be long-term, rather than just a one-year extension, stating: "But we're looking to do a deal that will see him race for McLaren for the rest of his career.
"That may be for the next three years or the next five years. Who knows? Jenson is a mature and very intelligent guy. And he is still as fit as a flea and still hungry to race.
"He could take on an ambassador's role for McLaren. We're looking into GT racing and Le Mans and there's no reason why he can't use his experience in those projects."
However, outside of his stated commitment to next year's drive this long-term deal is still at the negotiation stage. "We're just talking about it [at the moment]. I don't think there's any rush to go to a single-year contract," Whitmarsh told the BBC.
"Jenson's done some of the most spectacular drives in the history of Formula One this year. And I think he's capable of even more."
Button himself seems more than happy to continue with the team, having become settled, comfortable and relaxed within the McLaren set-up over the past year and a half. "I don't like jumping and changing. I like being in one place because you get a good feeling of family around you," he said.
He also defended his team-mate Hamilton, under fire for his aggressive technique that has seen various accidents and incidents involving the stewards throughout the year. Hamilton, he said, had not changed from last season: "Lewis is Lewis. I don't think he's changed this year from last year. He's just an extremely fast driver who loves overtaking."
Both drivers trail Vettel by more than 100 points this season with just seven races remaining but as Button confirmed, he has already achieved his major ambition by taking the title in 2009.
"For me that's always been my aim," he said. "When I was growing up I was excited about the three big teams; Williams, McLaren and Ferrari and thought: 'I'd love to drive for those three teams,' but when you are here things either fall into place or they don't and it doesn't mean you need to drive for Ferrari to fulfil your childhood dreams because as you grow up things change.
"I'm happy here and if I can win a championship here I'd be even happier. That's my aim."
Meanwhile McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has described Adrian Newey, Red Bull's chief technical officer and designer of their Championship-winning RB6 and this year's hugely successful RB7 as a "scarce resource".
Newey, who designed five championship-winning cars for Williams in the nineties and the 1998 winner for McLaren, joined Red Bull in 2006 and his evolutionary design has seen the team improve to take a substantial lead over its competitors during the past two years.
Meanwhile Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Newey is on the cusp of beginning work on next year's car. "This time of year you tend to be in a bit of a balancing act," he said, "where Adrian's focus will start to shift over to next year's car and then the rest of the design functions tend to follow suit but we have upgrades planned for the remainder of this year because there's lessons that we want to learn."
"We've never been a believer in stopping early to start the following year. So I'm sure probably we're some way behind some of our rivals but the work rate is such at Milton Keynes that that they have aggressive targets that they know have to be hit."
Horner, however, has also been keen to point out that Newey is only part of a wider ethos within the team that has contributed to it's success, stressing that: "He brilliantly leads the technical team, but we also shouldn't underestimate the depth and quality of personnel we have."
"Of course every team in the pitlane would love to have Adrian with them, but he's very happy working in the environment we have.
"You have to remember, though, Adrian was at McLaren for five years without them winning a championship, so he isn't the single secret to success."
However McLaren's Whitmarsh still not only sees Newey as key but potentially one of the most valuable elements in F1: "I think that Adrian is a scarce resource and Adrian is, in my judgement, quite significant and I suspect that, if Christian Horner considers his wage bill, he'll probably come to concede that it reflects that fact."
