Jenson Button believes Lewis Hamilton's drive to win an unprecedented eighth F1 world title will lead to him signing a new deal at Mercedes.
For the second successive season, the Silver Arrows have struggled to keep pace with front runners Red Bull, with rumours rife that the 38-year-old will retire at the end of 2023 if he feels he's unable to challenge for the world championship. That's despite team principal Toto Wolff insisting he will "bang heads together" to ensure the all-time great extends his deal beyond 2023.
Ahead of the current campaign Button, who partnered Hamilton at McLaren from 2010-2012, implied that Hamilton would only be willing to negotiate with Wolff and co if he could be provided with a winning car. But amid promises of new upgrades at Mercedes ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix weekend from May 19-21, the Sky Sports F1 pundit now believes his compatriot is not yet ready to ride into the sunset.
Button, 43, said: “I don’t think Lewis is going to walk away from the sport. As a racing driver, if you have been winning for so long and then you are suddenly not, you want to fight back to winning ways. You are not going to retire.
“If you are in a bad car for many years, you want to retire because it just gets you down, but Lewis is not in a bad car. He is just in a car that is not as good as what he has been used to, and I get that. But he knows the strength of the team, he knows how quick he still is, so he is going to work with this team to get back to fighting with Red Bull, and they will."
And the man who won his sole world title in 2009 believes that next year could be the campaign when Hamilton surpasses joint record holder Michael Schumacher : "It probably won’t be this year, but in 2024, we will see Lewis on the grid. He is still hungry to win another world championship," he added.
Many envisaged a one horse race this time around, with Max Verstappen the red hot favourite to land a third consecutive world title. But the Red Bull man is currently being strongly challenged by teammate Sergio Perez, and Button also enthused about the Mexican following his win in Azerbaijan.
“I’ve been really impressed with Sergio,” added Button. “Max has to be the toughest team-mate because he just goes out there and gets it done. Consistency is where Sergio has been lacking, but if he can do it in Miami, which like Baku is a street race, too, he has a chance to fight for the championship.
“I didn’t think I would be saying that, I really didn’t, but it is good for the sport. Red Bull has an advantage at the moment and we need both of them to be fighting it out.”
