The McLaren driver rued the agonisingly slow final pit-stop which he felt cost him the chance of fighting Nico Rosberg for victory in the Chinese Grand Prix.
His own team principal admitted that it was never really on the cards, but McLaren's Jenson Button rued the agonisingly slow final pit-stop which he felt cost him the chance of fighting Nico Rosberg for victory in yesterday's Chinese Grand Prix.
Button, who started fifth on the grid, elected for a three-stop strategy as opposed to Rosberg's two-stopper. He was in contention for what would have been a spectacular win until he made his final stop on lap 39.
A cross-threaded wheel nut on his rear left tyre meant he sat stationary in his car for over nine seconds and when he re-emerged it was into heavy traffic, over 20 seconds down on the German. "It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me," Button said. "They were cars I wouldn't have been racing and I would have had a nice clear track to hopefully hunt down Nico. It was a big gap but you have to give it a go.
"But all in all it was a good race, good overtaking and nice with that issue to come away with some good points for second place."
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said victory was unlikely given the fact that Rosberg's tyres had not degraded as quickly as everyone expected them to. "One in a hundred cross threads and the mechanic had to swap to another gun," Whitmarsh said of Button's third pit stop. "But I think it would have been difficult to beat them.
"If we hadn't had the problem in Jenson's last stop we would have got him out in clear air and with fresher tyres he would have gone on to hunt down Nico. But Nico's tyres didn't fall away as we thought they might."
Whitmarsh was delighted with the way Button and team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who started from seventh, had stormed through the field to secure the remaining podium places.
Hamilton, who has finished third in all three races this season, leads the drivers' championship by two points from Button, with fewer than 25 points separating the top seven drivers.
"We have got a great championship here," Whitmarsh said. "We have got three winners and three very different races so far. We are not dominating but no one else is.
"This is a season when you have to limit the mistakes and you have got to be able to overtake on the circuit," said Whitmarsh, who underlined the importance of driving carefully on the rubber debris - the 'marbles'.
"It is all very well having the DRS but you are travelling at very high speed, you go out on the marbles. You will hear it and feel it and then to hit the brakes late is a very, very brave thing to do. Some people get that wrong but both our guys get it right every time."
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