Jenson Button claims his former teammate Lewis Hamilton could win 10 Formula 1 titles if he stays at Mercedes.
The Briton is already well on course to claim a sixth championship this season, leading his teammate Valtteri Bottas by 39 points as the halfway point of the year approaches.
That would put him just one behind the all-time record of seven set by Michael Schumacher but, given the ongoing domination of Hamilton’s team, Button is already looking well beyond that hallowed figure.
“Lewis could end up with 10 world championships if he stays at Mercedes, but if he goes to Ferrari it might just be that – the end of his career,” he was quoted by GPFans last week at Silverstone.
“I am sure every driver wants to race for Ferrari, but no driver in their right mind would move from a winning team to a team which is not competitive.
“It is not like he is not getting paid well. He definitely doesn’t need to worry about that.”
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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also thinks Hamilton has everything he currently needs to go on and challenge Schumacher’s records, but he doesn’t see it as a foregone conclusion.
“I think that if you are gifted in the way he is and hard-working in the way he is, then you happen to join the team that is setting the benchmark then it gives you a good starting base to achieve successful results,” the Austrian told Crash.net.
“But to achieve what Michael has achieved, which is the best so far, he is in a totally different level to what anybody else out there has done.
“It is a stretch and hard and I think, but he is on a good way and there are more victories and more championships to be won to match Michael.”