Jenson Button reveals: "Way of working with Hamilton hurt mentally"

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton drove together for a couple of years during their 2010 stint at McLaren. The two Brits had, says Jenson Button in an interview with Sky Sports F1, quite a few mental problems with that.

Lewis Hamilton vs Fernando Alonso

Button has been in a team with both F1 legends. Yet, according to the ex-F1 driver, the differences were significant. "Lewis was a World Champion when we were team-mates and also quite young. He was a lot less experienced than the likes of Fernando Alonso at the time,” Button told Sky F1. He then goes on to explain the differences with Alonso.

"Fernando was a wily old fox. He knew exactly what he needed to do to win. He had the speed but he also understood strategy and he knew what he had to do with the engineers to get them on his side. Lewis was straightforward, super-quick and could drive anything you put him in, really. They were very different from each other but I think the Lewis now is very different to back then. He has the experience. Back then it was just driving every lap flat out, and now he understands what he needs to do to get the best out of the car from A to B," concludes the Brit.

Button not copying Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg became world champion alongside Lewis Hamilton, something Button failed to do. Rosberg has often said that playing mind games worked very well when competing against the seven-time world champion. Button, however, would not know how he could have applied this.

"The important thing for me was to get a team behind me. I jump into a car and if it isn’t suited to my style then it just doesn’t work for me. I’m not one of those drivers. I need a car developed around me and the team support around me to develop it in my direction. That’s what I did, and it worked for me. I think that mentally hurt Lewis a little bit at certain points of our time together but when Lewis probably has an issue or a bad weekend now, he will go away, think about it and come back. It’s just his job,” concludes the ex-F1 driver.