Button knows how to beat Hamilton: "There are some things"

For three years Button drove next to Hamilton at McLaren. Twice Hamilton pulled the longest end but in 2011 it was Button's turn. The Englishman beat his younger compatriot with 43 points. Button thinks he knows how to beat Hamilton.

Beating on a mental level

In the past, Nico Rosberg already indicated that you can beat Hamilton if you sit in his head. Rosberg succeeded once, or just once, but the German became world champion at the expense of Hamilton. Button also tells Inews that it is a mental game that you have to play. Coincidentally, these are the only two men who defeated Hamilton, although Alonso was equal in points when the Spaniard fought against the current world champion.

"There are certain things that you should pick up when you’re Lewis’ teammate to get inside his head .It’s about using your head in certain situations, engineering the car, strategy, setting the car up; so for me the only way to beat Lewis was to set my car up better or to go through a race in a different way in terms of strategy because of how I would look after the tyres or save fuel so I could push when he pitted."

Button continues: "That made it so much fun and I think Lewis a lot of the time thought ‘I don’t know how he has just beaten me because I am quicker than him’.”

Bottas against Hamilton

The former Formula 1 driver doesn't see Bottas beating Hamilton because the Finn won't play psychological games: "Bottas is a team player and Valtteri is just a really nice bloke. He wants to do all his talking on the track.". By the way, after his victory in Russia, the Finn showed that he doesn't benefit from such observations. On the board radio, Bottas distributed a sneer to all the people who criticized him.