Hamilton Asked Team to Sign Button

Lewis Hamilton put the rumors to rest during the McLaren Mercedes MP4-25 launch event in Newbury, at least the ones regarding his new teammate Jenson Button. The 2008 world champion told the media that it was his personal choice to see the reigning F1 champion in the same McLaren seat as him, although when he first told that to his team, McLaren was not negotiating with Button.

According to Lewis, he spoke personally with the members from McLaren’s staff and for the first time launched the hypothesis that Button would complete an all-British lineup for the Woking based team.

“Something you won't know is that I actually called Martin (Whitmarsh, team principal) and said 'What about Jenson?', which was before they had negotiations. At the time I was calling them and asking them, 'What's going on? I keep reading all these different stories about different drivers. What's happening?'” revealed Ham.

Ham argued his choice by the fact that Button is the “best driver there is” and urged his team to sign him. Not a very long time ago, however – during the month of December, to be more exact – Ham was not even considering Button as a threat in the 2010 title fight.

“I was happy with the team-mate I had, but it seemed like they were looking for someone else. (…) And why Jenson? Because he is the best driver there is, and they wanted to get the best driver possible. I just wanted to find out because people kept asking me as to who was going to be my team-mate,” concluded Hamilton.