Button happy to prove F1 doubters wrong

The first races of his McLaren career prove that F1 should not always leap to quick judgements, Jenson Button said before departing for a holiday in Thailand as the new championship leader.

The reigning world champion joined the British team in 2010 amid widespread claims he would be destroyed by McLaren’s much-loved incumbent Lewis Hamilton.

But after four races, 30-year-old Button has outqualified Hamilton on three occasions, while winning two races compared to his 25-year-old teammate’s none.

In comments published in the Guardian, Button suggested he had been hurt by the F1 world’s pre-season predictions.

“Sometimes we should sit back and watch and enjoy instead of speaking out aloud too much.  It (the predictions) might be true in the future, you never know.  I don’t know.

“But I feel happy with what’s happening now,” said the Melbourne and Shanghai winner.

Hamilton, however, is expecting the tide to turn soon, after his recent drives through the field were described by some pundits as among the best of his career.

“I feel I have had great races,” he agreed, “but he (Button) has taken the right decisions and taken the easier route.  I have had the harder route and got good results but hopefully soon I will take the easier route.”

Hamilton said in the Telegraph that he is not surprised about Button doing well so far in 2010.

“There was a lot of stuff about him joining my team and I would be favoured … I am really happy for him.  He did a better job and I am sure that when the tables turn, as they will, it will the same for me,” said the Briton.

He also played down suggestions that, while the first cracks appear in the relationship between Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, the same will happen at McLaren.

“I don’t think it will happen with us,” said Hamilton.  “The good thing with me and Jenson is that we clearly want to beat each other, but Jenson is very smart and does not have that too-aggressive flair in him and neither have I.”

In the Daily Express, meanwhile, Button described Hamilton’s unyielding racing style as “like a pitbull”, adding that he loves “having a teammate who’s like that”.

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