McLaren to spend $175M on Button and Hamilton

McLaren are reportedly preparing to make offers to Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton worth a combined total of $175M in order to retain their current driver line-up until at least 2017.

According to The London Times, McLaren view the pair as a 'dream team' combination and are set to offer Button a five-year extension to his current deal, which expires at the end of 2012, and remain committed to keeping Hamilton 'for the foreseeable future'.

Whilst the financial outlay required to keep both Hamilton and Button is vast, McLaren calculate that the pair provide good value for their big money – and not just in terms of race wins.

'The pair are also a marketing man's dream team, crucial to McLaren, with more than 30 sponsors paying out on deals running into tens of millions of pounds, who love the handsome, articulate and glamorous drivers', the newspaper reports.