Photo: McLaren
Lewis Hamilton is at its best, with a confidence that makes you appear unbeatable. Jenson Button, in an interview with Or Globe questioned that faith in himself of his compatriot, stating that it is due to the little competition to which he subjected his teammate, Nico Rosberg,: “Lewis is a very talented rider, no doubt. But if you put Vettel or me in a car equal to his side, he would be in difficulties, would not have as much confidence as you have today. It is in a convenient location. Does a great job, but does not have a competition with your partner, or another pilot, which makes it all the more easier,”. The two englishmen agreed three seasons in the McLaren, and even though Hamilton was ahead in two of them (4th, 5th, and 4th vs. 5th, 2nd and 5th for Jenson), Button added more points (672 to 657).
The 2009 champion believes that, as happened with Vettel, Hamilton will have to suffer when other teams are closer to Mercedes: “Look at the world in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013… no one thought it was possible to get close to Vettel. Then we saw that it was not so. There are many riders capable of in Formula 1, but the results largely depend on the condition in which you are”. The three-time will more difficult the next year, in the opinion of the Button, by the advance of Ferrari: “Today is a privileged. Account with a fast car, balanced and without a lot of internal competition. In 2016 you will have competition, something that does not exist in the present. This will make it to Mercedes to see the races and set your strategy in a different manner to what it does now. Vettel and Raikkonen will fight against him”.
Alonso as a teammate
Jenson Button is suffering from the low performance of McLaren-Honda next to Fernando Alonso, a pilot was necessary for your team: “coexistence with Alonso is fun. I wanted to totally come to the team, for your experience. I wanted to understand how it works with his engineer, with the group. He is very smart. You can see that when we discussed the strategy, for example: it says what can go well or poorly, and understand your high level of knowledge”. It is not hidden information, and work together to help McLaren: “Everything is open in our work, in my opinion, what one does is available to the other. It is not difficult to connect with Fernando, is very objective with me, we are pilots expertos”.
Foto: McLaren
The future of McLaren, the better in 2017 than 2016
Button recognized that the environment in Woking is very positive for the coming year: “I’m going to the factory often, I meet with the engineers, we discussed what is best for the car. I see a group looking forward to the next championship”. However, he does not think forward enough in 2016 to be rivals of Mercedes: “What we’re Going to win races? I don’t think, but I think that we will fight for the podium and maybe a victory”. Their hope is centered on 2017: “I feel anxious in relation to 2017, when I see that McLaren can fight for the title. We have great opportunities with the radical change of regulations”. But it is not clear that you should follow: “My GP 300 will be in Malaysia, and in theory will be my last year”.
Although you can’t give more information, he spoke of the plans of Honda for the next course: “The motor unit in 2016 will be different to the one we used this year. We will not have problems to generate power from the hybrid, which we all know is our greatest difficulty. I would like to, but I can’t say what will be different in the power unit of Honda in 2016, only that it’s not going to be the same as that used this year. My confidence comes from knowing the reasons of our difficulties, where the problems are. To heal them you had to make a new project, as it is doing Honda“. The track and the time will be those who prove if you are right.
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