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2009 F1 champion Jenson Button says the UK wants Hamilton to win his seventh world title, but doesn’t want it to be “a walk in the park”.
The Briton who won his first (and only) world title in 2009 for Brawn GP (a team that went on to become Mercedes just a year later) says the UK is united behind their countryman Lewis Hamilton.
“The whole of the UK hopes that [Hamilton] does achieve that [record], but I think everyone hopes that it’s not just to walk in the park,” said Button.
“You can’t just give it to Lewis. We need Ferrari, we need Red Bull to challenge him.
“One, because it’s a sport. We want to see excitement, we want to see challenge, and we want to get people interested in this sport that maybe haven’t been interested in the past.”
Button, who partnered Hamilton at McLaren from 2010 until 2012, says he hopes Lewis’ contract extension with Mercedes will be signed soon.
“It’s just talked up more than it should be because they’re both in a great situation..
“It should be the easiest contract to talk about because [of what] they’ve both achieved. So just make it happen, and we can focus on the actual racing.”
Source: Associated Press
