Button: Perez the teammate who surprised me the most in F1

2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button says that Sergio Perez was the teammate that “surprised me the most” during his career.

Button had a number of high-profile drivers as teammates throughout his F1 career which spanned 17 years, having been partnered against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso during his time at McLaren, as well as Rubens Barichello in his title-winning season at Brawn GP.

Speaking as the latest guest on F1’s official Beyond The Grid podcast, the Briton considered some of the toughest drivers he went up against.

“The fastest teammate would be Lewis and the teammate that was strong in every area would be Fernando,” Button explained.

“They all had weaknesses, as I had weaknesses. But they were both drivers that will be remembered for their extreme talent and for their championships.

“The teammate that I felt technically was above the rest, head and shoulders above the rest, would be Rubens. He was very talented when it came to setting-up a car and I learned a lot from him.

“There’s many drivers that had skills and talents that stood out. There’s not one really that I would say ‘he’s the best by far’.

“The one that surprised me the most was probably Checo, it was his speed and how on certain days he could be very quick,” he added.

“Certain circuits didn’t work for him, circuits that had front-limitation didn’t work for him, but circuits that had rear-limitation, like Bahrain, worked very well for him and he was extremely quick.

“I don’t know if he actually understood why that was but that’s the way it was for him. To see how quick he was on circuits that had rear-limitation, that surprised me and surprised me more than any other teammate, his speed on those circuits.”