Jenson Button once explained why Fernando Alonso is a more ‘complete’ F1 driver than Lewis Hamilton

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Having shared a garage with both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso during his time in F1, Jenson Button once explained why he felt the Spaniard was a more ‘complete’ driver than the seven-time world champion.

After his fairytale title win with Brawn GP in 2009, Jenson Button completed an all-British dream team as he joined Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in the following year.

While a few race wins were snatched here and there, McLaren weren’t able to build a car that either driver could compete for a title with. Of course, Hamilton quickly departed for Mercedes two years later, and the rest was history.

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To replace the outgoing Briton, McLaren bounced between Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen until Alonso became free at the end of 2015, and he sought a return to Woking alongside Button.

The pair of world champions raced alongside each other until Button called it a day on his career in the sport at the end of 2016

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Jenson Button explains why Fernando Alonso is a more ‘complete’ driver than Lewis Hamilton

During an appearance on Nico Rosberg’s podcast in October 2021, Button was asked a multitude of questions regarding his time sharing a garage with both Alonso and Hamilton.

Of course, the 2009 world champion was asked about who he felt was the better driver. Over a single lap, Button noted Hamilton as the stronger driver over his former McLaren teammate.

However, when asked who he thinks is the more complete driver, Button had a different answer.

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“I can only compare them when I had them as teammates, really,” he responded, before adding, “I can’t compare them now, but the most complete driver was Fernando, because he would find every way to be quicker than you.

“Lewis, for me, was a very straightforward teammate. He was really quick. Even in testing, he could not really be on the pace, three or four tenths off, and I don’t think he was doing it on purpose, but then he gets qualifying, and he would just be on it.

“He would always find the lap times and qualify. Whereas Fernando would play games a lot more. Which, in a way, it was at a point in my career that I was up for games, you know what I mean.

“We weren’t fighting against anyone else. We were so slow that we were fighting against each other, and we played a lot of games, some of them that I don’t really want to mention too much.”

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Jenson Button also revealed some of Fernando Alonso’s mind games at McLaren

After a few moments of prodding, Button finally revealed some of the mind games that Alonso used to play with him inside the garages of the Woking-based outfit.

He added, “I mean, most of the time it was more just holding back things; holding back pace, holding back information about setups and what have you. We understood each other, and we definitely respected each other.

“We knew that when we did things, the other guy could take it. So I respected Fernando for that. And even if Fernando wasn’t quick over race weekend, he could still get a result, that was the thing.

“If he couldn’t quite find the balance that worked for him, there was a way he would always get the best out of the car. Whether he’ll just try and pit early or if you’re in front of him, he would try a different strategy and sometimes it worked.

“There were other times, actually, that if he was behind me, he would say, ‘Oh, there’s a problem with the car and he would retire from the race’. We weren’t scoring points, so to be fair, he’s kind of saving the car for the next race.

“But he’d be like, oh, there’s a problem, there’s a problem. And they’d be like, no, Fernando, there’s no problem. Keep driving.”