Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton was left blushing after accusing McLaren teammate Jenson Button of a lack of respect.

The 27-year-old, who will join up with Mercedes at the start of next season, hit out at Button for unfollowing him on social network site Twitter, only to discover that his teammate had never followed the driver's account in the first place.

Hamilton wrote on Twitter: "Just noticed @jensonbutton unfollowed, thats a shame. After 3 years as teammates, I thought we respected one another but clearly he doesn't.

"Funny thing is, we are STILL teammates! All good tho, I plan on giving this team & fans all I got til I cross the finish line in brazil!!!"

Hamilton later tweeted: "My bad, just found out Jenson never followed me. Don't blame him! Need to be on Twitter more!"

Neither Hamilton nor Button could reach the podium in the Japanese Grand Prix over the weekend.