30/01/2010
NEWS STORY
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Lewis Hamilton claims that it was he who suggested that McLaren recruit Jenson Button for its 2010 world championship campaign.
Observers at Friday's launch in Newbury inform us that though both drivers were all smiles, 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton appeared to be just a little bit tetchy.
Always the ultimate ambassador in terms of corporate loyalty, the Englishman's answers to questions were shorter than usual and on occasion almost abrupt. Then again, it was his new teammate, Jenson Button, who appeared to be the centre of much of the media attention.
Nonetheless, while some might believe that there is already an atmosphere and that Lewis is wary of the arrival of the British media's original 'golden boy', the Englishman claims that it was he who originally suggested to McLaren that they recruit Button.
"Something you won't know is that I actually called Martin (Whitmarsh) and said 'What about Jenson?', which was before they had negotiations," Hamilton told reporters when asked for his thoughts regarding his new teammate. "I was calling them and asking them 'What's going on? I keep reading all these different stories about different drivers. What's happening?'"
For reasons that will probably never be made public, Button failed to reach an agreement with the team with which he had just won the 2009 title and subsequently stunned the world by moving to Woking, the team with which Hamilton has been associated since the age of 13 and which is widely regarded as his territory.
While the Woking team is clearly delighted to have two (British) world champions on board, making much of the fact that it is the first time in F1 history that a team has employed two successive champions, there is speculation that there were other reasons for employing Button not least to curb the growing influence of Hamilton Snr. Indeed, it was noticeable that while John Button was present yesterday, Anthony Hamilton was elsewhere, namely announcing the forthcoming launch of his GP Prep Drivers Academy.
While some believe that Button is no match for Hamilton, claiming that the 2008 champ will "wipe the floor" with his successor, others are of the opinion that McLaren is on the verge of making the same mistake it has made on two previous occasions (Prost/Senna and Alonso/Hamilton) namely trying to get two highly competitive egos to work together putting self interest to one side for the sake of the team.
While Hamilton wasn't willing to talk about any possible ego clashes he was happy to dismiss the suggestion that he will "wipe the floor" with his teammate.
"He is the current reigning world champion, so I personally would never think I could wipe the floor with him," said the Englishman. "I want the best team mate I can possibly have to score the points alongside me. When he's winning I've got to be finishing second, and when I'm winning he's got to be finishing second. I can't win the constructors' championship on my own, so I need to have as strong a team-mate as possible.
"There weren't that many drivers the team were able to pick from," he added without a hint of emotion.