Button: Rosberg’s maneuver on Hamilton is “incredible”
Asked about the battle at the top of the championship between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton and the collision during the F1 Belgian Grand Prix, Jenson Button did not hesitate to show his support for his former teammate, noting that he suffers from "astonishing" bad luck.
Teammate of Lewis Hamilton for three seasons at McLaren from 2010 to 2012, Jenson Button has a particular viewpoint on the battle between the 2008 world champion and Nico Rosberg, believing that what happened on the second lap of the Belgian Grand Prix is not clean.
Regarding the Spa incident, his view is clear: the German is at fault. There was nothing to be done here. All he could do was get off the track. There was no possibility of passing. I think any driver would examine the issue, and I’m sure Nico has done so and is thinking, ‘What was I thinking?’. I feel sorry for Lewis, he was leading the race… It’s incredible.
« It is a shame that it’s not a cleaner fight, » he explained to The Times. « I have always said that the person who would win the championship this season would be the one who had done the best job on the track, but that doesn’t seem to be the case currently. » The leader of the championship is Nico Rosberg, with 220 points, which is 29 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
If, according to him, the titles will indeed go to the star-branded team, he believes that the situation between the two drivers presents a negative image of F1: « [Mercedes] will still win the championships, but what happened really spiced up what was already a very spicy relationship. Is it good for the sport? It’s negative because we don’t see a great battle between the two. »
« But it will excite everyone for the next Grand Prix in Italy where none of the fans will support either of them and would like them to collide. It adds some spice, but it’s a shame because true competitors want to see them fight, » he added.
The 2009 world champion believes that Lewis Hamilton is a victim of blatant bad luck: I have never seen such bad luck, or judgment errors by other people, causing Lewis to lose so many points over a few races. It’s astonishing, really. I’ve never seen this before, especially when you have a car that is so dominant and they could be 1 and 2 at each GP.
For him, ultimately, driver No. 44 is handling the situation well with the media and hopes he can bounce back: « It’s just a matter of fighting and dominating your teammate, even though I know it’s devastating. But, for me, Lewis has handled himself well in the media despite a few disappointing races. He has truly grown as an individual, which is good to see, and he’s taken it head-on. Hopefully, this will boost his confidence for the rest of the season rather than break it. »
