Jenson Button has claimed that McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton is his biggest rival for the formula one championship this season.
The British duo have enjoyed a mixed start to the year, with Hamilton having achieved podium finishes in the opening two races, while Button won the campaign's curtain raiser in Australia.
Despite his 14th-place finish in Malaysia on Sunday, which left race winner Fernando Alonso at the top of the driver's standings, Button says that he is not worried about the Ferrari driver and instead sees Hamilton and the Red Bull team as his main threats.
"Even after such a bad race - and that's hopefully my bad race for the year gone - I'm still only 10 points off the lead, and that's Alonso in a Ferrari. That's not the worry," Button said.
"I'm also only five points behind Lewis, who is the guy in a competitive car, so it's still not bad considering the day I had. Lewis is definitely my main rival, and you have to say the Red Bulls as well.
"Those are the guys I still think are the main ones at this point in the season, and will be for quite a few races."
Button won the world championship in 2009 while driving for Brawn GP.
Joe Fish
