Jenson Button has warned team-mate Lewis Hamilton that he would have more to lose than gain in leaving McLaren at the end of the season.
Jenson warns team-mate against leaving McLaren
Jenson Button has warned team-mate Lewis Hamilton that he would have more to lose than gain in leaving McLaren at the end of the season.
Button has partnered Hamilton for the last three years after opting to join McLaren a month after securing the 2009 World Championship with Brawn. Having signed a contract extension a year ago, Button's long-term future with the Woking outfit is secure, but it remains to be seen whether Hamilton will continue as his team-mate for a fourth season with the Englishman still yet to agree a new deal with McLaren.
Hamilton has been heavily linked with Mercedes during the past week, but Button cannot see any reason for him to leave.
"The most important thing for us in Formula 1 is to win races," Jenson told
The Times. "When you cross the finish line first, that is what makes you smile and what gets you emotional after a race. That is one of the main reasons why I moved to McLaren. We might not win the championship every year, but every year you have the chance of winning grands prix - [McLaren] give you that opportunity with the car.
"I love racing alongside a team-mate who is competitive and really fast - and that is definitely Lewis. Moving to another team wouldn't hurt me as much as much as I think it would hurt him."
With just three months of the season remaining, the clock is certainly ticking on negotiations to be finalised. As Button also observed, McLaren are already in the process of working on their 2013 charger - workings that Hamilton will naturally be privy to.
"We go through the whole season working on next season's car and developing the car and making sure we fit in the car and all that sort of stuff," Button remarked to
The Daily Telegraph. "And we obviously give ideas of what we would hope next year's car would have even if it's small things like buttons on the steering wheel and different positions and whatever.
"You don't just arrive in December and say right, let's got on with it. You plan through the year for the new year. Unless [drivers] wear blinkers they have seen lots."
