McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has insisted that he has not been affected "psychologically" by Jenson Button's 2011 performances, though the former F1 champion admitted that he was "not happy" when he is beaten.
Button surprised many last season by becoming the first ever team mate of Hamilton to beat him in the final championship standings.
The 2009 champion finished as runner-up behind the dominant Sebastian Vettel, while Hamilton struggled to fifth place.
But ahead of the start of the 2012 pre-season preparations, Hamilton has insisted that while he was not happy to be beaten, he has not been psychologically hurt by Button's form.
"Jenson is very quick and he's gathered a strong team of technicians around him," he muttered to the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper on Thursday.
"I'd like to be ahead of him all the times, and I'm not happy if the opposite happens."
He went on: "However, psychologically it's absolutely not a problem. Besides, he's an open and cheerful guy who I get along with.
"It would be nice to fight for the 2012 championship with him: that's just up to McLaren!"
As far as the team's 2012 chances were concerned, after their humbling at the hands of Red Bull in 2012, Hamilton suggested that the new McLaren would be a better car.
But he admitted that the RBR squad would likely still start the year as the team to beat.
"It will be up to us to be able to surpass [them]," he mused, "From what I've seen, however, the new McLaren seems a lot better than last year's."
He added: "Basically Red Bull is an evolution of the aerodynamic concepts introduced in 2009.
"Midway through 2011 it was phenomenal, it was at the highest level and on top of that it almost never broke down.
"By contrast, when we had the same reliability, we lacked the same performance."
And he said that his main goal for the start of the season was to be able to start the year with a truly competitive car, after the last few years began slowly for the Woking team.
"During the winter you always dream of arriving at the start of the season with a car that goes quick immediately," he bellowed.
"This hasn't happened in the last two seasons. I want it to happen this year. If we start well, we'll stay at the top more easily."
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