‘I joined McLaren because I really wanted to find out where I stand compared to Lewis’

Jenson’s Button’s sense of irritation was palpable. He had just produced another fine performance to confirm his status as the second-best driver in Formula One this season when someone asked him yet another question about his McLaren team-mate, Lewis Hamilton.

“If you want to do an interview with me, about me, that’s fine,” he said. “But I don’t want to be asked about other drivers.”

Button takes justifiable pride in the fact that his second-place position in the table behind Sebastian Vettel puts him ahead of a clearly superior car, the Red Bull of Mark Webber, as well as three former world champions – Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Hamilton.

His second‑place finish in the inaugural and highly successful Indian Grand Prix on Sunday was his 10th podium of the season (Hamilton has six, Alonso nine). On a wide track with slow corners and two DRS zones, he was not entitled to hold off Webber’s charges but he did so with considerable pace and skill.

It is Button’s misfortune, however, that whenever Hamilton drives brilliantly and wins, he is asked about him, and whenever Hamilton is involved in spectacular mishaps (more common this season) he is asked about that too, instead of the serenity of his own driving.

Ultimately, though, Button not only talked about Hamilton – who limped home in seventh place on Sunday after another collision with Felipe Massa – but admitted, for the first time, how much he wants to beat him in this year’s drivers’ championship.

With two races to go, Button is 38 points ahead of Hamilton, who does not have a realistic chance of catching him. That would represent Hamilton’s first defeat by a McLaren team-mate.

“If you have a team-mate like Lewis, who is bloody quick, it means a lot when you can finish in front of him, yes. He is also another world champion, so he is no slouch.

“We all want to beat our team-mate whatever we say, that is the way it is. You have the same equipment. You want to work with your team-mate, or you won’t have a quick enough car to fight the top guys. So you work well with him out of the car and in the car; of course, you want to beat him and it is a real challenge to beat him but that is the challenge I wanted when I came here. I wanted to find out where I really stand compared to Lewis.”

Button, remember, was advised not to join McLaren by people who thought he would struggle to compete with the 2008 world champion. Button said: “I have had better races than Lewis in the second half of the season but he has had phenomenal races when I have not been able to touch him.

“Sometimes you find yourself in the right place at the right time and at the moment, more often than not, I feel I am in a great position for the race. To finish second in the championship would mean something. It would mean I had beaten a Red Bull and Fernando in a Ferrari. When Fernando is in tune with his car it is great to beat him, as he is superfast, and my team-mate is unbelievably quick as well.”

However, Button said he would take another win ahead of finishing second in the championship. “It would be nice to finish in front of Lewis but if I can get another win that would mean so much more to me.

“I have three already and I would like to get another in Abu Dhabi or Brazil. Brazil is the one we have more of a chance to win. But quite a few times this year, especially in the last few races, I have been the closest guy to Sebastian when he has won.”

Someone then asked him yet another question about Hamilton. “Lewis will be strong next year,” he said. “Sometimes you wish he wasn’t that quick but it is competitive. He will definitely be there next year, no doubt, and we will have good fights and you will have two Brits fighting it out for the championship.”

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