Lewis Hamilton has dismissed comments from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who claimed Jenson Button would be a bigger threat to Sebastian Vettel’s third title.
Hamilton, who was beaten by a teammate for the first time in his Formula 1 career last year, says he won’t let comments like those effect him as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing season.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of [this] but they definitely don’t wind me up,” Hamilton told the BBC. “There are a lot of opinions, and everybody has their right to an opinion, but it doesn’t really affect me.
“It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day when I go out and do the job.”
The 27-year-old matched Button’s wins, with three apiece in 2011, but scored 43 points less after throwing away several podium finishes with silly errors.
Hamilton insists being beaten didn’t bother him and he doesn’t plan on repeating the mistakes he’s made.
“Losing to Jenson didn’t really bother me. If it had been a case where we had been fiercely competitive throughout the year it would have been quite tough to deal with,” he added.
“But knowing it was a year where I threw away points, made very silly mistakes – sometimes a little unfortunate, but it was just a shocking year – I wasn’t really too devastated by it.
“I’ve drawn a line under it because at the end of the day he didn’t win the world championship, so it could have been even worse.
“But there are still many years ahead, and I don’t plan on [what happened last year] being the case this year.”
