02 February 2024 , 15:56
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Jenson Button has warned there may be tension at Mercedes throughout Lewis Hamilton's final season with the team.
The seven-time world champion will leave at the end of the 2024 campaign to join Ferrari. But he must first complete an entire season with the team that he is about to depart - a situation which Button thinks could lead to internal difficulties.
"It's a big deal and I cannot wait to see how he goes in the Ferrari," he said. "The weird thing is that it is quite an early call, though, to mention it this early on. It's a year before he'll be stepping into the Ferrari, so how is that atmosphere going to be at Mercedes?
"It's not easy. What do they hold back from Lewis? I mean, he knows the ins and outs of this team very well anyway but, when they get down to the nitty-gritty, are there going to be certain things they hold back from Lewis? Possibly.
"For George [Russell], he's got to start thinking about a new team-mate again. Is it going to be someone like one of these karting rivals - Alex Albon - or is it going to be Fernando Alonso, the guy that just doesn't go away? He's always there fighting for the top spots in the top teams. So who knows?"
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Team principal Toto Wolff, however, is adamant that nothing is going to change in terms of his own approach. "We owe it to our principles and our racing intent, how we go about, and we will respect that. And I will be sure that the drivers will respect it," he said.
"In terms of the development going forward, I think this is something which we need to look at. The regulations stay pretty much the same. And when it comes to 2025, we will evaluate later in the season what it means in terms of technical information, but that's not something that bothers me at all."
Button's main emotion about the news is excitement as he praised Hamilton for taking this brave step. He added: "This is massive for the sport. If Lewis stayed at Mercedes, if they won races next year or didn't win races, it would have been good. But having this shift to Ferrari is massive.
"I think it's great for the sport. Everyone is going to have their eyes on Formula 1, especially Ferrari and Lewis, but also how he does up against Charles Leclerc who has the contract, so I'm guessing he's the one that's going to be alongside Lewis at Ferrari.
"It's a big deal making this change in your career when you've been with one team for so long, to suddenly jump into someone else's team. It's tough. So fair play to Lewis, it's a toughie!"