‘I am the No 2 driver at McLaren,’ says Hamilton

Newly single Lewis Hamilton appears to have adopted a conciliatory, or even humble, tone with new team mate Jenson Button ahead of testing for the 2010 season - although it could be that the McLaren driver is indulging in yet more mind games.

The 2008 world champion told ITN that he now considers himself to the back-up driver at the team, as Button won the Formula 1 drivers' crown last season.

"I'm not the world champion – I'm just the No2 driver, but I think it's a level playing field," said Hamilton. "We're very much equal and heading into the year as a fresh start."

The 2010 season will be the first time that the two most recent world champions have raced together on the same team, and since Button signed for McLaren the two men appear to have been involved in a cat and mouse game - each trying to get the better of the other psychologically.

Hamilton's remarks could be seen as a riposte to Button's assertion that he feels no pressure ahead of the new season, despite the widely held belief around the paddock that Hamilton will get the better of him. "I'm a lot more relaxed than if people were telling me I was going to destroy my team-mate," commented Button last week.

The two men have still to meet revealed Hamilton. "I've been away training and he's been away training, so we don't actually start working together until the end of January," he said. "In the next couple of weeks we'll meet up and start the partnership... We're going to be working together for a few years – and I'm very much looking forward to it."

Hamilton has also been stirring things up with his old enemy Fernando Alonso, now at Ferrari. The British driver has recalled how he "blew him away" during his first season in F1 when they raced together for McLaren. The comments could also be aimed at Button as they hark back to the last time Hamilton's team mate was the world champion.

"No-one has ever come into their first year and been at the front, let alone beat a world champion, beat the mentality and the strength that he would have had and his experience in Formula 1 already up to that point," boasted Hamilton.