'It's mentally tough': Button reveals Hamilton and Verstappen shared 'insecurity'
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
08:01, 15 May
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Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
Jenson Button believes two of F1's greatest ever drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, still suffer from insecurities despite winning 11 Drivers' titles between them. The 2009 world champion has offered an insight into the psychology of those at the very top of the sport.
While Button believes a certain level of insecurity can help boost the motivation of the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen, he admits such a mentality can also lead others to a "really dark place," which is why he also praises McLaren's Lando Norris for his openness with regard to mental health.
Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Button said: "As drivers, we're flawed. We are insecure, and that will go for any driver. When I hear Lewis Hamilton on the radio last year at Ferrari, when he asks a question, and they don't come back to him, he's like, 'Have I done something wrong?' It's like, you're a seven-time world champion. The confidence you should have is out of this world. But insecurities creep in."
"You forget what you've achieved, and you just think about the last session. You know, 'I'm not good enough. I was two-tenths behind my team-mate'. It's crazy, and the pressure you put yourself under is enormous, and that's why you see so many drivers fail in the sport, even though they have the talent. Mentally, they're just in a really dark place."
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The former Brawn and McLaren man admits having known drivers who would not open up about their struggles, instead believing they'd be perceived as weak if they did so. That's why 2025's world champion Norris impresses Button so much, as proof a driver at the top of the sport can be open about their mental health.
"And I've heard it from many drivers. We think of it as a weakness, so we don't talk about it. And that's what's amazed me with Lando [Norris], the way he's been outspoken over the last couple of years on mental health. Really, really good, and I think that gives you a lot of strength."
Verstappen and Schumacher share similar traits of 'insecurity,' says Button
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
When asked on whether Hamilton's fellow seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher had any of those insecurities, Button said: "Yes I do... There’s certain drivers that I’ve thought, ‘he comes across as a bit arrogant.’ But it’s not [that], they just don’t want to let people in. They know they have insecurities, which is the biggest issue because then you never get over those insecurities.”
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Button also also believes Red Bull's Verstappen has the "insecurity," focusing on the fact that, despite all of his or Hamilton's success over the last decade, top drivers will still always lose more races than they win.
"It comes down to you losing more than you win. In F1, I raced in 300 Grands Prix, and I won 15. Fifteen! 15. So I lost 285 races. So, Lewis Hamilton, extraordinary what he's achieved, but he's still lost a lot more than he's won, and that is mentally why it's tough in any sport, because you lose more than you win."
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