Jenson Button laid the blame for his collision with Pastor Maldonado in the Singapore Grand Prix at the Lotus driver’s feet.
The pair came to grief at turn 17 while Button was trying to pass his rival.
“I was in tenth behind the two Lotuses and they were unbelievably slow,” Button told reporters after the race.
“I hit the back of Maldonado – I can’t say any different – but I sort of expected him to touch the throttle out of the corner and he didn’t. So I don’t know what was going on there, but I found myself in the back of him.”
“But two corners before that I was on the inside of him and he just tried to drive me straight off the circuit and it’s like, you can’t do that in F1, especially around a circuit like this. But it’s not the last time he’ll do it.”
Button later retired with a gearbox problem, but prior to the collision he said he had been pleased with the car’s pace and his strategy.
“The Safety Cars – we were very lucky with both of them. We went very long on our strategy so obviously it opens up Safety Cars in a good way.”
“The first one we sat in the pits for 30 seconds trying to get the wheel on the front-right, so it didn’t help us, but the second one really helped us. And the actual pace was good considering the lengths we were doing.”
2015 Singapore Grand Prix
- Sponsor watch: 2015 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix
- Singapore plans security improvements after invasion
- Singapore a struggle even if we’d got everything right – Mercedes
- No fall-out over team orders – Verstappen
- Hulkenberg accepts blame for Massa crash
DaveW (@dmw)
20th September 2015, 17:12
So button is saying he got the red mist and rammed Maldonado. OK then.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
20th September 2015, 17:19
Crybaby Button now? Alonso´s influence?
Proteus (@proteus)
20th September 2015, 18:33
Next time please look at the race and then talk about it… Maldonado was slow, Jenson atacked him one corner before, got right next to him and Maldonado going in his “normal” behaviour off the track full power like a baboon and got the position back to the next corner (with off-track driving, which is BTW illegal) where he then braked in the exit of the next corner. Have u evere driven a car before? Do u know what is the reaction time of a person if someone brakes infront of u for no rational reason?? There was no vay Jenson was able to prevent the stupidity of Maldonado. If u dont like Jenson than say it, no need for this kind of comments…
Egorov (@egorov)
20th September 2015, 17:25
So we have a mind changer here
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
20th September 2015, 17:27
Hopefully Maldonado’s days are numbered. If Renault buys Lotus, and more cash is injected in the team, surely they’d prefer a driver that doesn’t crash 90% of the time and is competent enough. Grosjean outqualifying him most of the times even after missing FP1, reaching Q3 after Pastor is knocked out in Q1, carbon fibre bits from his car laying around all over the world… Money surely can buy that back, can it?!
Rodrigo
20th September 2015, 17:40
It depends on whether you have a corrupt comunist goverment oil company funding you or not….
Joe pistone (@)
20th September 2015, 19:07
Can we leave politics out of it for once, just once.
Tango (@tango)
20th September 2015, 21:04
I more or less had the same line of thinking up until that happened: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/09/20/maldonado-confirmed-at-lotus-for-2016/#comment-3011206
Illusive (@illusive)
20th September 2015, 17:37
This reminds me of a parody made by a youtuber, its funny, When Button makes excuses.
ajsa4ward
20th September 2015, 17:39
As frustrating as Maldonado must be to work with for the team, if it wasn’t for his money they would have gone to the wall ages ago. Its down to his money (apart from last month) that the staff got paid. I’m sure none of them would mind taking his money for another season as I doubt Renault will be competitive next season in any event. Hes got a contract already why not take the money??
Traverse
20th September 2015, 18:07
Sometimes it’s easy for people to pick on the person with the track record, in this scenario Maldonado is that guy. It was a racing incident but if I had to apportion blame it would be Jenson’s head, and he should be man enough to accept at least some responsibility and move on. If the incident was with a different driver I don’t think he would’ve used such flagrant language (calling Maldonado “mental”).
Traverse
20th September 2015, 18:08
*It would be on Jenson’s head.
speedAddict78 (@speedaddict78)
20th September 2015, 18:08
100% Jenson fault. Maldonado did nothing wrong.
AldoH
21st September 2015, 0:56
Agree 100%
Philip (@philipgb)
20th September 2015, 18:20
From a road traffic point of view Jenson went into the back so can be accused of being at fault. But Maldonados driving up until that was poor and the fact Jenson was able to accelerate with a Honda engine into the back of a Mercedes engined car makes me question fault.
I remember the attitude from him at the end of 2013 when he started accusing Williams of sabotaging him, he probably knows given his total lack of results and the inevitable Renault takeover that he’s for the chop.
Joe pistone (@)
20th September 2015, 18:29
No he didnt. Button should apologise to Maldonado for his childish language.
2face
20th September 2015, 19:03
How many crashes and collisions has Maldonado been in altogether?
Luca Nuvolari (@nuvolari71)
20th September 2015, 19:24
Jenson pleeeease, just race
George (@george)
20th September 2015, 19:53
Looked to me like Maldo was trying to hold a tight line out of the corner, but he was going seriously slow when Button hit him, can’t really blame either. I didn’t get a good view of the first move, but it looked more like Button pushing Maldonado out than the other way around to me?
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
20th September 2015, 20:08
Really didn’t need to see another large piece of bodywork flying up and coming down into the path of following cars. JB’s been doing this for more than 15 years and has a good, clean reputation. But is it really necessary to aim at the back of another car and expect it to disappear?
William Jones (@williamjones)
20th September 2015, 20:11
Er… yes!
Neil (@neilosjames)
21st September 2015, 1:27
If you’re in a McLaren and chasing a Mercedes-powered car… I’d say that’s what you’d spend all season doing.
John H (@john-h)
20th September 2015, 20:14
If Maldonado brake tested him, then it should be with the stewards. The fact it isn’t is an odd one. Why wasn’t it investigated? Any dab of the brake pedal would be right there in the telemetry.
Tony Hamilton (@tonybananas)
21st September 2015, 13:12
Well the stewards did look into it and their decision was no further action, so I’m going to go with the wild theory that Maldonado didn’t brake test him and therefore there is nothing weird or mysterious about it.
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r)
20th September 2015, 20:50
Look, Jenson might not be entirely right this time. Maldonado went on the power slow enough to put him in a rather unpleasant position, true, but ultimately it was Jenson who didn’t do enough to take evasive action. That puts the blame at 50/50 for me, and I think the stewards’ decision to take no further action here was the right one.
However, one has to wonder what is it that puts Maldonado in this kind of situations virtually all the time? He’s been involved in incidents he didn’t cause before and in some cases, like this one, he doesn’t carry all the blame, but it HAS to have something to do with his driving, really…
How I see it is that his driving is simply sloppy. I think he never carries the right amount of confidence behind the wheel (being overconfident in questionable situations or vice-versa) and that a high level of inconsistency or unpredictability in his driving just triggers other drivers’ erratic reactions (or lack thereof altogether).
For me it has to be something in his on-track behaviour that makes other drivers stumble upon him so frequently. He’s been at the wrong place, at the wrong time way too many times to call it a coincidence anymore.
OOliver
20th September 2015, 21:19
I know Maldonado has done a lot of things in the past, but in this situation, Button has to take some blame. Maldonado isn’t obliged to take any particular line while being ahead. Button wasn’t expecting Maldonado to be there and made a lunge.
Maldonado had won tyres, and he couldn’t accelerate out of the corner fast enough.
I can bet you if the situation was reversed, and Button was the one ahead Maldonado, Maldonado would have got a penalty
Paradiddle66
21st September 2015, 23:43
If you lay off of the throttle in those f1 cars they slow down faster than your street car under hard braking because of the downforce. If Maldy didnt get on the throttle (like jenson claims), then anyone behind him wouldnt have any time to react. I dont know whether he did or not, but i did see maldinado whipping his car around crazily on the corner before.
Paradiddle66
21st September 2015, 23:49
But yea, i think his history has more to do with it than anything. I cant believe nobody has been raising hell about Hulkenburg’s 3 place penalty for next week.