Lewis Hamilton had a rather exhausting debut F1 season, racing for McLaren, as he straightaway had to compete for the world title. And of course, he had company in Fernando Alonso, who was his very own teammate at the time. They engaged in a series of battles, but ultimately neither won the title. Ultimately, Kimi Raikkonen emerged as the world champion that year.

However, that was indeed the season that the world realized a world champion was in the making. Yes, Alonso visibly showed desperation to beat the Briton, only to fail in 2007. And since then, many have often rated Hamilton higher than Alonso.

But, one-time world champion and former Alonso’s teammate, Jenson Button, isn’t one of them. The Brawn world champion reckoned that Hamilton is certainly the faster driver than Alonso when it comes to one-lap pace. However, with respect to driving skills, he opined that Alonso is a more complete driver.

“The most complete driver was Fernando because he would find every way to be quicker than you,” he said during an interview with the former world champion, Nico Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton is very straightforward unlike Alonso: Button

Button further reckoned that Hamilton doesn’t usually play games on the track in a bid to gain an advantage, unlike Alonso. To prove this statement, Button mentioned his brief 3-year McLaren stint with Alonso.

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

“He would always find the lap time in qualifying. Whereas Fernando would play games, a lot more, which in a way, at a point in my career, I was up for games. You know what I mean? It was we weren’t fighting against anyone else, you know. We were so slow that we were fighting against each other.”

Overall, Alonso is still one of the fastest drivers on the grid, and only the car seems to be holding him back. So, can Alpine pull off a shocker to place Alonso back at the top by as early as next season? Well, let’s hope we get to watch the Spaniard back on the podium soon!

Watch Story: Lewis Hamilton’s Biggest F1 Crashes