'Hungry' Hamilton Even Better And More Dangerous For His Rivals Then Few Years Ago

Friday, 12 January 2024 at 03:00

Lewis Hamilton might become very difficult to beat if he can get a better car from his team, according to F1 World Champion Jenson Button.

The 2023 has been better for Lewis Hamilton in comparison to 2022. However, he still finished only "third" 341 points behind Max Verstappen.

Nevertheless, the seven-time World Champion seemed a lot more confident in his car, and Jenson Button believes the two winless seasons are the only motivating factor for the Mercedes driver. He told Sky Sports:

“"When you've won for so many years, and then suddenly that's taken away from you, it can work in two different ways. One, you are just like, 'Well, there's no point anymore, I want to retire, I've been at the peak for so long, and now I've not won a race in two years.'"”

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Hamilton has definitely not shown signs of giving up, as he also prolonged his contract with Mercedes for two more seasons with a clear goal of achieving his eighth World Championship.

“"But also it can make you more hungry to get back to that, and Lewis is in that position right now I think."”

Jenson Button used to be Lewis Hamilton's teammate for three seasons before the seven-time World Champion left McLaren to join Mercedes. He knew the qualities of the Mercedes driver very well, and he claims he is now better than ever before.

“"Lewis is as good as ever, I would say, in terms of his outright speed, but also now he seems much more comfortable in himself and confident in his ability, so he makes fewer mistakes. So he's even better now than he was five or six years ago.”

The former F1 driver added that the 39-year-old could become just as dangerous for his rivals as Max Verstappen has been in 2023 (winning 19 out of 22 races in the season).

“"That's tough [for his rivals]. If he gets a car that's competitive enough to fight for victories, when someone's that strong and that confident in themselves it's difficult to beat, as you can see with Max Verstappen right now."”