Hamilton persuaded McLaren to sign ‘world-champion’ Button

LONDON - British Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he had persuaded McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh to sign Jenson Button as his McLaren team-mate for the 2010 season.

“I do remember saying to Martin, ‘Have you spoken to Jenson?’ He said, ‘You know what, I haven’t',” the Sun quoted Hamilton, as saying.

“My guess is the reason he hadn’t is probably because Jenson was world champion and Martin probably didn’t know what I would have thought about him coming into the team, and probably didn’t give it a second thought,” he added.

The 25-year-old said that he was totally unfazed by the prospect of having a world champion as his partner.

“Jenson was world champion at the time, he was the best driver out there at the time, Number One. So, why not? I didn’t have any problems with it. I just wanted the best driver alongside me to help me do the job for the team,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton further believes that Button has turned out to be the best choice for the team.

“We’ve got a great relationship, he has done an incredible job all year and hopefully we’re going to have many more good years ahead of us. What I always wanted was someone with equal status, which was good for me,” Hamilton said.

“I knew he would be incredibly quick and I knew I would have to be at my best to be able to out-do him. But I was quite relaxed about it generally,” he added. (ANI)