Former F1 driver Eddie Irvine reckons Jenson Button will be "murdered" by Lewis Hamilton as the duo gear up for their first season together at McLaren.
Despite winning the Drivers' Championship title with Brawn GP, now Mercedes GP, in 2009, Button opted to leave the team in favour of McLaren.
At the time of his signing, the Brit cited the need for a new challenge and to prove himself against the best as his reason for pitting himself against Hamilton.
But while Button is confident he can go head-to-head with the 2008 Champion, Irvine believes he's in for a nasty surprise.
"Jenson has entered the lion's den," Irvine told ESPN. "It was madness of him to move. He thinks he's going to be able to eat his steak, and that's not going to be the case - I think he's going to get murdered!
"It's the worst decision he could have made. The only reason I can think of is that he didn't want to stay at Brawn with Rosberg, who's not as highly-rated as Lewis but might be just as quick. Jenson may have thought that it's better to get beaten by Lewis than get beaten by Nico.
"Rubens Barrichello is a good little peddler and murdered Jenson in the second half of last season. Michael (Schumacher) never got murdered by anyone. Lewis came into his first year in F1 and beat a double World Champion in Fernando Alonso - that's a class act.
"If you look at Jenson's career, Ralf Schumacher beat him, Giancarlo Fisichella beat him and Rubens beat him. There are too many races where he hasn't performed, to say he's at the level of any of those guys."
