"The rest of us might as well go home" - How Lewis Hamilton's telemetry shocked Jenson Button during his time at McLaren

Former F1 driver and world champion Jenson Button heaped praise on his former McLaren teammate and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

The duo were together as teammates for three seasons on the iconic British team from 2010-2012. They had some iconic battles against each other and also engaged in some high-profile crashes such as in Montreal in 2011. While being teammates, Button once messaged his father about Hamilton's raw speed after looking at his telemetry.

As per Motorsportweek, Button said:

"If ever Lewis works out how to get the best from himself and the engineers, the rest of us might as well go home. Lewis is one of the fastest drivers the sport has ever seen,"

Former Mercedes team boss Paddy Lowe recalled the moment he first bumped into Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and how car control impressed the most about the Briton, adding:

“The first time we ran him at McLaren [as a rookie late in 2006], I recall the guys looking at the steering trace at the Silverstone test. The oversteer corrections in all the braking zones and corner entries were massive. We were waiting for his feedback and he didn’t mention that.

"We asked ‘How’s the car on entry?’ and he said, ‘Fine’. His natural car control was extraordinary. Most drivers would have been quite unhappy with such instability.”

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“He is one of those drivers that, as an engineer, you want in your car" - Paddy Lowe on Lewis Hamilton

Lowe mentioned that Lewis Hamilton is an engineer's dream as he will get the most out of the car. He said:

“He is one of those drivers that, as an engineer, you want in your car because whatever he delivers you know he’s wrung the car’s neck and that’s the maximum of what it will do. There are not many drivers of that quality and for an engineer that’s the most satisfying aspect.

"It gives everyone confidence and is such a great platform to work from. So he has massive talent and extraordinarily good racecraft and both were evident right from the start.

"Remember the number of drivers that got pissed off at being overtaken by him in the early days? He’s great on the team for the reason of his performance and ability to race. That captures the public eye as well because they just love that fighting spirit."

Paddy Lowe and Lewis Hamilton reunited at Mercedes and were influential in making the German team dominant in the early years of the Turbo-Hybrid era.