Button will not get my help, says Hamilton

Valencia: Lewis Hamilton says he has no plans to help Jenson Button as Formula One ends a four-week break following Hamilton's first win of the season in Hungary. Hamilton's fortunes changed in Budapest but Button is now anxious to prevent his championship lead being eroded further during Sunday's European grand prix.

"I don't have any plans to help Jenson; I'm not looking to do that," said Hamilton. "I'm here to win races for McLaren-Mercedes and be as successful as we can be. If that happens to help Jenson win the championship then it would be fantastic for me and all the British fans. I really hope he does it, but he's not my team-mate. We're not here to help him win races.

"The thing now for us, after such a bad start to the season, is for people to see that we still have it as reigning world champions. If we had been in this position, ready to win races a while back, then the outcome of this championship might have been a bit different."

The late revival by McLaren is a double-edged sword for Button.

If Hamilton wins this 11th round of the championship, it will stop Button's main rivals, the Red Bull drivers, from scoring maximum points. On the other hand, if Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel finish first and second and the McLarens of Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen come between the Red Bulls and Button, then the Englishman's 18.5-point lead will be drastically reduced with six races remaining.

Of the two British drivers, Hamilton was clearly the more relaxed today as F1 regrouped and prepared to tackle the street circuit in the port area of the Spanish city.

"It was perfect to have won in Hungary and then go off for the break," said Hamilton. "It was great, after all the hard work the team has done, for everyone to be able put their minds at rest. I went to the factory a few days after Hungary and it was great to see everyone going off happy to spend some time with their families knowing we were back in contention. I was able to get away and not think about racing for a couple of days. That made a nice change."

Button could not make the same claim.

"I tried not to think about Formula One too much, but I found myself doing that, especially in the week before I went away to the south of France," said Button. "It was going over in my mind non-stop. The only way I was able to stop was to have my girlfriend and friends take my mind off it once we got away."

August marks the beginning of the so-called "silly season" as rumours gather strength over drivers' contracts for 2010.