Button defends Wehrlein move that flipped Sauber

Jenson Button has defended his attempt to overtake Pascal Wehrlein that saw the Sauber driver flipped into the barrier during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Having started from the pit lane, Button pit at the end of the first lap – as did Wehrlein – and rejoined just behind the German despite Sauber being given a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release. Stuck behind for much of the race, Button carried out another pit stop and quickly caught Wehrlein, attempting to pass on the inside at Portier. With the two cars colliding, Wehrlein was flipped sideways against the tire barrier but Button felt it was a fair attempt to overtake.

"I knew that Pascal's tires were very gone because I had the same set of tires from the start of the race and I put a new set on," Button said. "So I had a lot more traction off the previous corner because when these tires go on the marbles, they have no grip.

"I went up the inside and I thought I was a long way up the inside. Then I looked across and I saw that he hadn't seen me, so I tried to back out, but it's obviously too late then. The problem is that I don't think you can see much with the mirrors, but in a racing move, you don't think, 'He's not going to see me because of the mirrors.' I gave it a go and I thought it was a fair enough judgment.

"The worst thing is that you never like seeing a car tip over, because you never know if his head's going to hit something. The most important thing is that Pascal is OK. I saw him a minute ago and he seems to be OK."

Button himself was forced to retire as the collision broke his left-front suspension and he said it was not the way he wanted to finish his one-off return to McLaren.

"I enjoyed yesterday. I enjoyed some laps today, but I never want to damage the car. Not something I do very often. I'm sorry for the team for doing that, but the thing is, it's tricky. You're in a race, you're right at the back. When there's a move and you think there's a move, you have to take it."

Button was later handed a three-place grid penalty for the incident, which will be applied "for his next race this season", should he race in F1 again.