Jenson Button picks sides in Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen F1 team-mates row

08 September 2023 , 23:00

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Jenson Button weighed in on the F1 team-mates row between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (Image: Sky Sports)

Jenson Button said he would be "more fearful" of being Max Verstappen's team-mate despite having gone up against Lewis Hamilton himself.

The 2009 Formula 1 world champion spent three seasons driving alongside Hamilton at McLaren between 2010 and 2012. Button is one of a handful of title-winners who Hamilton has competed against directly during his F1 career.

That is part of the reason why the seven-time world champion claimed that, in comparison, Verstappen has had it easy at Red Bull. "In my personal opinion, all my team-mates have been stronger than the team-mates Max has had," the Mercedes driver declared.

"Jenson, Fernando [Alonso], George [Russell], Valtteri [Bottas], Nico [Rosberg]. I've had so many. These guys have all been very, very strong, very consistent – and Max has not raced against anyone like that."

That claim prompted a snappy retort from Verstappen, who said: "Maybe he's a little jealous of my current success. This kind of statement... he possibly thinks he's winning something with that, but it makes no difference to me. I think Mercedes have a very hard time dealing with losing, after all these years of winning so much."

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Button, who was name-checked by Hamilton as he listed off his past F1 team-mates, told Sky Sports he agrees that Hamilton has had tougher drivers to go up against. But he added a caveat by stating that, given the choice, he would be more comfortable partnering the Brit again rather than competing with Verstappen.

"What can I say? He mentioned our names so that we would side with him, obviously!," Button said. "I think Lewis has had some very tough team-mates – he's had world champions as team-mates, whereas Max hasn't.

"But, for me, I would be more fearful of going up against Max in the same car. I think it's because the car is designed around his style, or that he can drive a car that Adrian Newey gives him. I think Adrian Newey gives him a car and says, 'This is the quickest car in the world. If you take away front downforce, it's going to go slower but it'll be easier to drive'.

"Max goes, 'I have to drive how you've made this car and I need to drive it as quick as I can'. I think he's very good at that and a lot of drivers struggle to compete with that. It's a long answer, but it is a difficult one.

"I think Lewis has had more difficult team-mates, but I also wouldn't want to go up against Max. They're all unbelievable drivers – the best in the world and some of the best we've ever seen in Formula 1.

"I wish there was more competition at the front between Max, Lewis, Fernando – those three are the ones that stand out for me – but it's not the way in Formula 1. It's a technology race and Red Bull, fair play to them, they're doing a better job right now."

Daniel Moxon