F1 rival Lewis Hamilton 'won't blow away Jenson Button'
It's the battle of the world champions with Button and Hamilton at McLaren
By Sarah Holt
Jenson Button will not be crushed by his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, according to the 2009 world champion's former Renault team-mate Jarno Trulli.
Button's decision to leave Brawn to go head-to-head with 2008 champion Hamilton has been widely criticised but Trulli says Button can handle it.
"I can't see Jenson being blown away by Lewis," Trulli, who will drive for Lotus F1 in 2010, told BBC Sport.
"Jenson deserves to be world champion and it'll be a nice battle at McLaren."
After winning both championships last year with Brawn, who will race as Mercedes after a buy-out by the German car manufacturer, Button said he chose to move to McLaren for a fresh challenge.
He says part of that challenge is pitting himself against a formidable team-mate in Hamilton, who is widely regarded as the fastest driver in F1.
Trulli, who partnered Button at Renault for a single season in 2002, says the only clashes McLaren's British pairing are likely to find themselves tangled in are on the track.
"Jenson is a great guy and he will get on well with Lewis," he added.
"I've been reading stuff left and right saying he will be blown away by Lewis but at the end of the day only the track will tell."
The match-up between consecutive world champions Button and Hamilton is set to be one of the most intriguing internal team battles of the 2010 season, along with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa's pairing at Ferrari.
Trulli has first-hand experience of working with Alonso at Renault in 2003 and 2004 - just before Alonso went on to claim his two world titles with the French team.
Alonso forged a close relationship with Renault, and then team boss Flavio Briatore, and Trulli believes bonding with his new Ferrari team could be harder for the strong-willed Spaniard than getting along with Massa.
"I don't think there will be any problems in terms of them working together," Trulli, 35, commented.
"You can work with anyone in so far as you are intelligent, and both Fernando and Felipe are intelligent.
Fernando is not necessarily the nicest person in the paddock to handle
Jarno Trulli
"It's difficult to say how Fernando will fit in at Ferrari as being a Ferrari driver is very demanding in many ways.
"Fernando is not necessarily the nicest person in the paddock to handle but he should do a good job because he's a good driver."
Trulli is also preparing to enter a new phase in his career after signing a three-year deal with the new Lotus F1 team.
The Italian claimed his first, and only, victory with Renault at the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix and joined Toyota in 2005, notching up seven podiums before the big-spending Japanese team cut their losses and quit F1 at the end of 2009.
As a start-up team with a much smaller budget, Lotus F1, who are owned by Malaysian car company Proton, are unlikely to present Trulli with many podium chances next season but he insists his ambition remains undimmed.
"The motivation for me is to prove that even starting from scratch I can still do something important for a team," he added.
"I really need to work hard next season to give the team the maximum.
"We don't have the budget I had at Toyota and we know we aren't going to be on the top straight away.
Trulli visited the Lotus factory for his seat fitting for the 2010 car
"At least we know that. With the previous teams they were often talking too much and saying we will achieve this and that but actually they weren't ready to achieve any result."
Lotus are one of four new teams, along with USF1, Campos Meta 1 and Virgin, signed up to join the grid for the opening grand prix in Bahrain on 14 March.
The team's technical director Mike Gascoyne, who worked with Trulli at Jordan, Renault and Toyota, has set an initial target of being the front-runner among the newcomers.
However, Trulli already has his mind fixed on more rewarding targets as the 19-race season progresses.
"I know it's very hard but scoring some points [awarded to the top 10 cars from 2010] would be nice for the first season," said Trulli, who visited the Lotus factory in Hingham last week for a seat fitting.
"Eventually being in the top six would be nice but we haven't hit the track yet so I don't know what kind of shape we'll be in.
"We have to get it right from the beginning if we want to succeed otherwise we will only keep losing time - I know that from experience.
"I'm optimistic. Lotus are serious about F1 and this is what I like but only the track will tell us the truth."
Lotus plan to launch their 2010 car on 12 February before heading to the third pre-season test in Jerez five days later.
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