JENSON BUTTON has insisted that Lewis Hamilton is a more “complete human” now compared to when they were team-mates.
The two Brits raced together while at McLaren Mercedes’ F1 team between 2010 and 2012.
AFPJenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were team-mates at McLaren Mercedes[/caption]
AFP or licensorsHowever they do not talk away from media duties[/caption]
During their time as team-mates, Hamilton and Button were close competitors.
Hamilton, 38, picked up ten wins and 22 podiums, whereas Button, 43, won eight races and earned 27 other podium finishes.
Despite Hamilton’s legacy in the sport, in this period he scored 657 while his team-mate was able to earn even more with 672.
The pair had many memorable wheel-to-wheel duals as well as a public fallout when Hamilton tweeted a picture of Button’s top-secret telemetry during the 2012 Belgian GP.
But while the pair do not talk away from media duties, Button has claimed that Hamilton has grown as a human.
The retired racer also praised the standard to which his former team-mate is still driving at.
He told The Times: “I think he’s in a good place, which is great.
“The difficult years make you as a driver, and he’s not had so many of them.
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“But he’s still performing unbelievably well, and he seems a more complete human being than he probably was back then.”
Button is instead closer to Hamilton’s current team-mate George Russell.
The 2009 Formula One World Championship winner has also praised veteran racer Fernando Alonso but insisted the Spaniard’s longevity has not made him regret getting out of the F1 driver’s seat.
He added: “I had different ideas. I started a family and I don’t want to miss them all the time and them feel like their dad isn’t around.
“Motor racing can be very stressful.
“That’s why I retired from F1 because I felt like I had nothing new to learn.
“I wanted to do things that I enjoyed. That’s why I’m at Le Mans.”