Formula One former champion Jenson Button may have brushed off talk of retirement, but he could be about to accelerate into a new career.
I hear the 35-year-old driver is in talks with the BBC about co-presenting Top Gear with Chris Evans, who's also known for a hard-partying past. An announcement is imminent, claims one source.
Button, who currently stands 17th in the F1 championship after enduring a torrid start to the season with McLaren, is friendly with Evans and twice appeared on Top Gear before Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left. Neither Button's spokesman nor the BBC deny that talks are taking place but both refuse to comment on “speculation”.
As Button has said, “In any sport, the trick is to retire at the right time.”
This comes after former host Clarkson was unceremoniously dropped from the motoring show for punching producer Oisin Tymon in an “unprovoked physical and verbal” attack following a filming session in North Yorkshire.
Following Clarkson's departure - which also saw May and Hammond leave the hugely successful show as well as executive producer Andy Wilman - there was much speculation about his replacement.
A FEMALE CO-STAR?
However, Radio 2 DJ Evans was last month confirmed as the new Top Gear host before the BBC revealed it would be welcoming open video auditions for co-presenters.
As dozens of entries were submitted, from the wacky to the deadly serious, it emerged that former model Jodie Kidd may also be in the running for a coveted co-star position.
Evans remains tight-lipped over who will be joining him next year, insisting that the first step is to assemble the behind-the-scenes talent.
However, BBC director general Tony Hall has admitted that he'd like to see more women on the show with car-mad Kidd - who describes herself as “a lunatic, adrenaline junkie child” - perhaps in the running after she famously scored a record lap time for the show's “star in a reasonably priced car” feature.
Daily Mail