McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has given the green light for Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button to fight it out for the F1 crown next season, believing the freedom to race will yield the greatest results for the team.

He as added that the team will back both drivers equally, and that it will be their talent that will make the difference.

Hamilton should be in the box seat, after being in the McLaren set-up for a decade, and Button’s season will depend on how quickly he can adapt to the McLaren team and car. Whitmarsh said:

“We feel confident that, as an organisation, we’ll be able to manage the demands and expectations of our drivers. Lewis and Jenson are both world champions, they know what it takes to win, and I’m sure they’ll both be very motivated to push each other to deliver even greater results. It’s my job to positively harness that competitiveness for the greater benefit of the team.

“It’s a proposition that some teams might find troubling, but which we are absolutely relishing – it’s a very nice problem to have! We have two fiercely competitive individuals who both fully understand the benefit of teamwork. They are phenomenal team players.

“My job is to manage that racer’s instinct: they are there to race each other – and the only instruction they’ll receive from me is to respect each other on the track. But that’s it – other than that, they’re free to race.”

It’s a driver pairing that has whet the appetite of racing fans across the world, two world champions up for the ultimate test – to see who’s the best in equal machinery, and it’s reminiscent of the times when World Champions Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were the force behind the British team.

Surely we won’t be seeing two McLarens taking each other into the gravel traps again, will we?

Remember how the 1989 season was decided?