The development did not affect the bullishness of Button, the winner here at
Albert Park three times in the past four years and relishing his new-found
seniority in the aftermath of Hamilton’s departure. The two of them had
breakfast together in Melbourne earlier this week, reflecting more of a
cordiality than they ever shared at McLaren, with Button acknowledging that
the dynamic had shifted. “You’re not competing against each other,” he said.
“It will be interesting to see how we get on. Already you can feel a
slightly different atmosphere, in a positive way.
“When you’re team-mates you are going to hold back on certain things. It’s
very difficult when that person is your main competitor. In F1, it’s very
difficult to have any relationship there – it’s more of a working
relationship. I’ll push my team-mate to the limit. I proved that with Lewis
when we raced wheel-to-wheel.”
Hamilton did his best to strike a more conciliatory note with Button as he
described their version of a breakfast summit meeting. “It has got better
and we are now interacting,” he said. “I was already in the breakfast room
and he came in. He was going to sit over there” – pointing to what looked
like another country – and I was like, ‘Don’t be a stranger, man, come and
have breakfast with me’. We talked about holidays, so I think it is in a
better place than it was.”
Trying again to dampen expectations of Mercedes’ threat, Hamilton said: “We
are fierce competitors, so I am sure he wants to beat me more than ever. He
probably thinks that it is going to be a lot easier to beat me. I hope that
is not the case but I have to envisage it might be for a while. I hope at
some stage we will be able to compete with him.”