Jenson Button knows Lewis Hamilton’s strengths and weaknesses better than most and saw something ‘typical’ from his former teammate at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The two Britons shared a garage while at McLaren from 2010 through 2012 before Hamilton jumped ship to join Mercedes. It was a prosperous time for the Woking outfit, and even saw Button be one of only a handful of F1 drivers to get the better of Hamilton through a season.
Hamilton has often emerged as the No1 driver at the 39-year-old’s teams and will now hope to again when he joins Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in 2025. But the end of the Stevenage-born star’s stellar story racing for the Silver Arrows is not going to plan for Hamilton or Mercedes.
Jenson Button found it ‘typical’ of Lewis Hamilton to top the Las Vegas GP practice timesheets
The 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix marks the start of a triple-header to conclude Hamilton’s run with Mercedes. But the Briton sparked speculation that the Sao Paulo Grand Prix could have been his last race when Hamilton said “if this is the last time” over Mercedes’ radio in Brazil.
Hamilton clarified before the Las Vegas GP that his radio message in Brazil was truly how he felt and that the seven-time F1 champion “didn’t really want to come back” with Mercedes. But, having cleared his head in the break, Hamilton returned with Mercedes to set the pace.
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Mercedes enjoyed the cold conditions in Sin City to see Hamilton top the timesheets in FP1 and in FP2 for the 2024 Las Vegas GP. He beat teammate George Russell by 0.396 seconds to top the opening session, and also edged McLaren’s Lando Norris by a mere 0.011s in FP2.
Having been so downbeat in Brazil when Hamilton finished the Sao Paulo GP in P10, Button found it ‘great’ to see the Mercedes driver top the Las Vegas GP practice timesheets. It was also classic of Hamilton to bounce back from such a disappointment and find a great result.
“This is typical Lewis,” Button told Sky Sports. “A bad weekend and he just comes out of the blocks and gives 100%, and just shows us how good he is. It’s great to see, it just really is.”
Lewis Hamilton did not want to return after a ‘disaster’ at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Hamilton endured a self-proclaimed “disaster of a weekend” at the Sao Paulo GP as he took P11 in the F1 Sprint and P10 in the feature race. Seldom did the seven-time champion seem likely of matching what Russell offered Mercedes, as the 26-year-old fought for the race win.
Franco Colapinto crashing behind the safety car to hand Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly a free change of tyres under the red flag ultimately cost Russell a chance to win in Sao Paulo. But he finished 27.488s clear of Hamilton, who failed to overtake Liam Lawson.
READ MORE: The five worst moments of Lewis Hamilton’s career in Formula 1
Mercedes and Hamilton will hope his early pace in practice for the Las Vegas GP can hold up now so he can enjoy potentially one final big result with the team. Brazil marked just one of many tough days since Hamilton was last on a podium when he won the Belgian Grand Prix.
The stewards disqualifying Russell handed Hamilton the Belgian GP win in a purple patch for him. It followed Hamilton winning a record ninth British Grand Prix plus finishing third in the Hungarian Grand Prix. But P4 in Mexico City marks his best result over the last seven rounds.
