UNITED KINGDOM: MOTOR RACING - Two consecutive world champions in one team for first time as Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton unveil new McLaren

Record ID: 777606

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: MOTOR RACING - Two consecutive world champions in one team for first time as Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton unveil new McLaren
  • Date: 30th January 2010
  • Summary: NEWBURY, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 29, 2010) (REUTERS) DRIVERS LEWIS HAMILTON AND JENSON BUTTON UNVEIL NEW MCLAREN MP4-25 CAR (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) PAN DOWN LENGTH OF CAR LEWIS HAMILTON AND JENSON BUTTON EMBRACE AS HAMILTON IS ASKED HOW THEY GET ON AT TEAM MATES (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) LEWIS HAMILTON SAYS: "He says be nice! No, we have been very welcoming to Jenson as a team and what he achieved last year and what he achieved in his Formula One career has been fantastic. I mean I have known Jenson and his dad for quite a long time now and I won my first British championship, my only British championship, on John's engines years and years ago." VIEW OF FRONT OF CAR, VIEW OF REAR DIFFUSER OF CAR COVERED OVER WITH BLACK BOARD JENSON BUTTON BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) JENSON BUTTON TALKING ABOUT NUMBER ONE ON HIS CAR SAYS: "It means a lot to me and to any driver, it means they have won the world championship in their career so yeah it's a very special feeling. But as soon as I jump into the car and close my helmet I won't be thinking I have got the number one on my car. You've got to forget the past a bit and loook to the future which is exactly what I am going to do." (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) LEWIS HAMILTON, TALKING ABOUT HAVING A WORLD CHAMPION NEXT TO HIM AGAIN LIKE FERNANDO ALONSO IN THE PAST, SAYS: "We will have wait and see. I do my talking on the track. Fernando was..he beat me sometimes, I beat him sometimes. It was an incredible year, I learned a huge amount from him. He was one of .. the best driver I have ever driven against." 9, (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) JENSON BUTTON, TALKING ABOUT RETURN OF MICHAEL SCHUMACHER, SAYS: "I think it's great. I think it's good for the sport. Michael's got his reasons to come back and people are saying he's 41 and has he lost it now? But of course he hasn't. You know he is an extremely talented and gifted driver and he's not going to have lost that in three years. So he will be competitive and I hope he is." DRIVERS WITH CAR ON STAGE
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA97WTICFA2C162Q2CBUK3ZDDBX
  • Story Text: Formula One world champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton appeared together as team mates for the first time on Friday (January 29) to show off the new McLaren that they will use to fight each other this season.
    Button, who won the 2009 championship with Brawn GP, now reborn as Mercedes, looked happy and relaxed as he stood alongside the sport's youngest champion, the 2008 winner who turned 25 this month.
    The two embraced when Hamilton was asked to comment on his team mate. Button whispered something to Hamilton who announced: "he says be nice!"
    Hamilton said that he had known Jenson and his father John back in karting days.
    "I have known Jenson and his dad for quite a long time now and I won my first British championship, my only British championship, on John's engines years and years ago."
    The 30-year-old Button was asked how he felt to see the sleek silver and red MP4-25 car with his number one on it.
    "It means a lot to me and to any driver, it means they have won the world championship in their career so yeah it's a very special feeling. But as soon as I jump into the car and close my helmet I won't be thinking I have got the number one on my car. You've got to forget the past a bit and loook to the future which is exactly what I am going to do."
    Speaking at the headquarters of title sponsor Vodafone, Hamilton was asked about the last time he drove with a world champion as his team mate. Fernando Alonso and Hamilton had a stormy season in 2007 during the younger driver's first year in Formula One and saw Alonso go back to Renault after arguments.
    "We will have wait and see," he said. "I do my talking on the track. Fernando was ... he beat me sometimes, I beat him sometimes. It was an incredible year, I learned a huge amount from him. He was one of.. The best driver I have ever driven against."
    Button welcomed the chance to race against Michael Schumacher again as the seven times world champion has come out of retirement.
    "I think it's great. I think it's good for the sport. Michael's got his reasons to come back and people are saying he's 41 and has he lost it now? But of course he hasn't. You know he is an extremely talented and gifted driver and he's not going to have lost that in three years. So he will be competitive and I hope he is," Button said.
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