Formula One: Martin Whitmarsh proud of his Briton boys, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button
McLaren team boss, Martin Whitmarsh never loses an opportunity to praise its team drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. He thinks that the British duo is the best drivers’ line-up in the sport, making all the other teams envy of McLaren.
Just like any other previous season, 2011 witnessed many of the team drivers having a tough time with each other. The Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber kept engaged in an intense rivalry all through the year, which even cost them a lot many
points. The worst of it was seen at the Turkish Grand Prix, where a certain 1-2 finish of the team ended into retirement of Vettel and a third place finish by Webber, due to their on-track enmity. Similarly, the Ferrari drivers also showed no less bitter relation
between the two as Felipe Massa became Fernando Alonso's number two driver and spent most part of the season in distress and anguish driving behind him. However, all through the season, the McLaren pair was the only one where peace prevailed and no on-track
or off-track rivalry was reported.
At the start of the 2010 season, as the 2009 champion, Button entered McLaren camp; it was largely believed that he will face the status of a number two driver in the team. It was thought so because the presence and dominance of the 2008 champion, Hamilton
has always been very strong in the team. However, nothing turned out as expected. Not only Button made his place in the team very easily but also developed a friendly bond with his teammate in little time. The only rift ever seen between the two, all through
the year, was in Turkey, which also harmonised very soon.
As the Formula One caravan now prepares to enter the 2011 season, the team is looking forward to an even stronger bond between the two along with some spectacular races on the track. While talking to the media earlier this week, the McLaren team boss stated
that he is proud to have the two in his team. He explained saying, "Without a shadow of a doubt, in my opinion, they’re the best driver line-up in the sport today. In fact I suspect they’re the envy of every team – including Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz.
They’re genuinely friendly and cooperative with each other, and that represents a genuine performance dividend for us.”
As the last season came to an end, many of the other teams were heard re-thinking over the next year’s drivers’ line-up. Ferrari was spotting Vettel for the years to come as it is expected to shed off Massa after this year. Moreover, the tie between Webber
and Red Bull does not seem very strong either. Seeing all this, Whitmarsh proclaimed that McLaren has no such plans in the years to come. He believes that both the drivers together not only create a great atmosphere in the team, but also together perform brilliantly.
He explained saying, "Both our drivers performed extremely well, combining controlled aggression with an astute grasp of on-the-fly tactics. Not only were they very quick, but they also demonstrated good race craft too."
Moreover, while commenting on the lifting of the ban from ‘team orders’, the Briton said that he still plans to stick to the ban. He insisted that equal opportunities will be given to both the champs until one of them is mathematically out of the contention.
"You’re very unlikely to obtain the services of two top drivers if one or both of them fear that they may be called upon to comply with team orders. We certainly couldn’t have hired the two of them unless they could be utterly confident of receiving
equal treatment," Whitmarsh stated.
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