Nigel Mansell is certain that Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will be strong contenders for next year's world championship.
Former world champion expects big things from Hamilton and Button
Former world champion Nigel Mansell is certain that Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will be strong contenders for next year's Formula One world title.
The McLaren duo occupied the top two places in the points standings during the middle of the 2010 campaign but faded as the race for the championship reached its conclusion.
The British drivers were hampered by a lack of pace at the most crucial time of the season, with Ferrari and Red Bull generally outperforming them in the last few races.
But Mansell is confident that the team will regroup over the winter and expects them to be fighting it out at the front of the grid at the start of 2011.
"McLaren will come back stronger," Mansell said. "It's easy to explain why they will be contenders next year, both Jenson and Lewis are already world champions, and they are both hungry and young.
"They are with one of the best teams in the business and they have an incredible power plant behind them with Mercedes."
Mistakes
No driver seemed to be able to string a dominant sequence of results together in 2010, meaning four were still in contention for the title at the final round.
Mansell added: "There wasn't a team that didn't make mistakes this year. Teams and drivers will have learned the lessons from 2010 when they start next year.
"There will be fewer mistakes and hopefully there will be another titanic battle for the championship."
Mansell singled out Red Bull for praise, however, after Sebastian Vettel overcame simmering intra-team tensions to claim the title in the final round of the season.
"Rivalry can get difficult and intriguing at times, but what I must say is that Adrian Newey and Christian Horner did a fine job," Mansell added.
"They showed that they are exemplary professionals by dealing with the difficult issues that came up during the season.
"Some people are ill-advised in their careers, but on the whole Red Bull did the most amazing job."
