Lewis Hamilton is hopeful that Jenson Button's presence at McLaren will spur him on to become a better driver, and revealed that he was the man to recommend the former Brawn GP driver to team principal Martin Whitmarsh.
Hamilton is hoping to reproduce the kind of form that fired him to a world title in 2008, when he was in partnership with Heikki Kovalainen.
"I want the best team I can possibly have to score the points alongside me," asserted Hamilton.
"When he's winning I've got to be finishing second, and when I'm winning he's got to be finishing second.
"I need a team. I can't win the constructors' championship on my own, so I need to have as strong a team-mate as possible.
"You want someone to push you. I had Fernando pushing me in 2007, and at certain points in the year in 2008, I had Heikki pushing me.
"I've no doubts this year Jenson is going to be hard to beat. His results last year speak for themselves."