2008 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has insisted that he is enjoying being partnered with reigning champion Jenson Button in the McLaren team this season, saying that the pair of champion Brits are working well together.
Hamilton and Button have been widely predicted to be a divisive partnership in the season ahead, following Hamilton's falling-out with Fernando Alonso at the team in 2007.
But Hamilton has insisted that the pair of them have started off on good terms, saying that the pair of them get on perfectly well with the start of the season approaching.
"We haven't seen him too much over the last few days, but we get on really well," Hamilton claimed after testing yesterday.
"Jenson is very open about his feeling and vice versa. I'm really enjoying working with him and I think he's a great influence on the team. He's really very, very competitive and a well-rounded guy."
Hamilton also believes that the McLaren team are in a much better position than they were this time last year, which admittedly wouldn't take much, despite only finishing 8th in the testing order on Friday.
"We're in a much stronger position than we were last year," he explosited "It feels all-new.
"After driving last year's car here this feels light years ahead. When we came here last year we were way off the pace and the car didn't feel too good. We're definitely in a much stronger position, but we've got a lot of work to do."
The 2009 McLaren car proved to be a slow and shambolic machine at the start of last season, only becoming a competitive prospect towards the end of the season.
But Hamilton believes that the new MP4-25 is a far better machine, though he admitted that it was difficult to work out the exact pecking order given the differing fuel loads on display this year.
"We don't really know what everyone is doing, but there are quite a few cars looking very fast," Hamilton shrugged, "It seems like the Red Bull is pretty quick, the Sauber is very quick, the Mercedes kind of looks quick, the Toro Rosso looks quick.
"Clearly there are some teams that are extremely fast. We're just focusing on our programme. We feel we're doing a good job, but we've got work to do - we don't feel like we're the quickest and we're not comfortable. We're just trying to maximise the days."
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