Button a collateral victim of startline incident

Jenson Button will be looking to forget as quickly as possible a fruitless Singapore Grand Prix which virtually ended for the Brit seconds after the lights went green.

The McLaren-Honda driver launched his race from 12th on the grid, determined to achieve a good result at the wheel of a car which he felt had greatly improved in yesterday's qualifying session.

Unfortunately , those hopes were dashed almost immediately following the chaos which ensued after Nico Hulkenberg was sandwiched between the two Toro Rossos on the run down to Turn 1.

"To be fair my race ended on the first lap," Button said.

" I got a really good start, got alongside Bottas when  Hulkenberg’s car came across the circuit. But I didn’t see it until he was right in front of me facing the wrong way.

"I lifted and pulled to the right but there wasn’t much room to go right and I tagged Bottas with my front wing. That broke, together with the brake ducts and the floor, so I pitted at the end of lap one.

"I got a new nose, a new set of tyres, but the car was damaged and I was running with a lot less downforce than normal. On top of that the downforce balance was completely wrong. "

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In the latter stages of the race, following an uneventful run in the lower reaches and as he struggled with brake issues, Button called it a day.

"The reason we stopped was because the brake temperatures had gone up because of the damage. Even the smallest difference to the brake ducts makes the temperatures go high, and the difference after the damage was quite big. We were worried about brake failure, so that’s why we stopped.

"Things will definitively be better in Malaysia. Fernando did a great job today, I really don't think the car was quick enough to be 7^th. He did a good job, others had problems, but fair play to him."

Breakfast with ... Bernd Maylander