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Button: Poor visibility contributed to Wehrlein crash

Jenson Button has blamed poor visibility with the new 2017-specification cars for his collision with Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein.

Making his last start in Formula 1, Button was running at the back of the field after gambling on an early safety car that didn't materialise.

He was running behind Wehrlein on lap 60 when he tried a move down the inside of Portier just before the tunnel entrance. The two collided, with Wehrlein left upended against the barrier. Button himself retired with broken left front suspension.

“I went up the inside, and I thought it was on," said Button of his attempt to pass Wehrlein. "Otherwise I wouldn't have made the move.

"I got alongside - well, from where I was I thought I was alongside him - but then I looked across. I thought, 'He hasn't seen me at all'.

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"These cars are so difficult to see out of the back of," he explained. "I've been telling the team and the FIA that this weekend.

"I tried to back out of it, but it was too late and we touched," he added.

"I've never seen a car go up on its side before. I don't know if that's the way the tyre is or if that's just unlucky today. Horrible to see."

Wehrlein escaped without obvious injury. However he will need further scans to check that he hasn't exacerbated the back injury he sustained at the Race of Champions in January.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.