Following their tussle at the Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren have told Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button that they should continue to be competitive when racing each other this season.
The pair enjoyed some old-fashioned wheel to wheel racing in Hungary on Sunday and it was one of the highlights of an excellent race. It is what the spectators want to see, after all.
Button and Hamilton passed each other four times in the space of five laps and it was gripping viewing in stark contrast to Red Bull’s Mark Webber being told to ‘maintain the gap’ with team-mate Sebastian Vettel a few weeks ago.
With reference to this, McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said: “We are not about to compromise our values and what we believe with our racing at McLaren.”
“When we were in Canada we let them get on with it and they had a coming together. It's risky but when you have back-to-back world champs you have to respect they are the ones there in the moment.”
“Everybody has to run their team by their rules but if you look back through our history, the way that we go about racing is having good drivers, give them a good car and let them do what they do best.”
This means that we can look forward to some more excellent battles between these two in the coming weeks. Of course it can go wrong at times, but to say they are free to race each other is a refreshing approach and one both drivers will revel in.
Button has already praised the team’s approach to his working relationship with Hamilton, saying: “We had a good little scrap and were wheel-to-wheel through turn one, which was close. If it had been with other drivers, I would have been off the circuit.”
Then, Hamilton is always going to be happy with being given license to attack other drivers. His aggressive style suits nothing else and this perhaps helps McLaren adopt their team policy of the duo going up against each other.
McLaren now have a three week break to assess their progress in the 2011 Formula 1 season with the Belgian Grand Prix getting underway on the 26th August 2011.
By Thomas Rooney – A contributor to Formula1Fancast – A place for Formula 1 News, Formula 1 Blogs and Formula 1 Videos.
The pair enjoyed some old-fashioned wheel to wheel racing in Hungary on Sunday and it was one of the highlights of an excellent race. It is what the spectators want to see, after all.
Button and Hamilton passed each other four times in the space of five laps and it was gripping viewing in stark contrast to Red Bull’s Mark Webber being told to ‘maintain the gap’ with team-mate Sebastian Vettel a few weeks ago.
With reference to this, McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said: “We are not about to compromise our values and what we believe with our racing at McLaren.”
“When we were in Canada we let them get on with it and they had a coming together. It's risky but when you have back-to-back world champs you have to respect they are the ones there in the moment.”
“Everybody has to run their team by their rules but if you look back through our history, the way that we go about racing is having good drivers, give them a good car and let them do what they do best.”
This means that we can look forward to some more excellent battles between these two in the coming weeks. Of course it can go wrong at times, but to say they are free to race each other is a refreshing approach and one both drivers will revel in.
Button has already praised the team’s approach to his working relationship with Hamilton, saying: “We had a good little scrap and were wheel-to-wheel through turn one, which was close. If it had been with other drivers, I would have been off the circuit.”
Then, Hamilton is always going to be happy with being given license to attack other drivers. His aggressive style suits nothing else and this perhaps helps McLaren adopt their team policy of the duo going up against each other.
McLaren now have a three week break to assess their progress in the 2011 Formula 1 season with the Belgian Grand Prix getting underway on the 26th August 2011.
By Thomas Rooney – A contributor to Formula1Fancast – A place for Formula 1 News, Formula 1 Blogs and Formula 1 Videos.