Hungary GP: Romain Grosjean was 'not thinking' - Jenson Button
Last updated on .From the section Formula 1
McLaren's Jenson Button accused Lotus' Romain Grosjean of "not thinking" after the Frenchman made contact with the Brit when overtaking him at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Grosjean, who finished sixth, was given a 20-second penalty for the incident on top of a drive-through penalty for a clash with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
"I don't know what he thought - unless I took to the grass, it was inevitable we were going to touch," said Button.
"I don't think he was thinking."
Button, who finished seventh, played a role in the as Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, a rival for the win, lost time trying to pass the McLaren, with the two even touching at Turn Two.
The 2009 world champion also insisted he was happy with the team's progress going into the four-week break.
"We beat a Ferrari fair and square, and we'd also have beaten a Mercedes if Nico Rosberg hadn't stopped - we can take a lot of positives away from here," said Button.
"Seventh position might not look too exciting - particularly after we fought for fifth at the last race - but we've done a good job this weekend and taken a step forward - and that's a nice little boost to send everyone off into the summer break.
"That was a fun race - although I seemed to be a target for other cars.
"Sebastian Vettel tried many times to get past me, and clipped my rear wheel into Turn Two - he may have damaged his wing, but I was lucky not to get a puncture."
Grosjean apologised to Button after the race for the incident, which although cost him a time penalty did not, in effect, cost him any position.
He was far from happy with his drive-through penalty when he left the track to overtake Massa.
"The car felt really good and it was the traffic that cost us," said the Frenchman. "For sure this is one that got away, but I'm very happy with my race and I honestly don't think I could have done much more. Maybe the strategy didn't quite work how we wanted, but the car felt really good and it was the traffic that cost us.
"Without this maybe there would never have been a drive-through penalty which didn't help. I haven't seen the footage yet and I thought it was a good move, but unfortunately the stewards took a different view.
"I've no problem with the time added for the incident with Jenson and I apologised to him afterwards. This could have been the one for me, but we will just have to wait a little bit longer and keep improving like we have been recently to make it happen."
Williams at last earned their first point of the season courtesy of Pastor Maldonado who finished 10th.
"I had a really good start from P15 and made a few overtaking manoeuvres during the race which were on the limit, which is especially pleasing as at this track it is very hard to overtake," he said.
"The car felt consistent, maybe not as fast in the second and third stints, but very consistent. I really want to keep scoring points now and be even stronger during the second part of the season."
There was less good news for his rookie team-mate Valtteri Bottas who was forced to retire for the first time this season with a suspected hydraulics failure.
"It's a shame to have my first retirement of the season as the goal was to finish every race, but there was nothing I could do," said the Finn.
"We still need to investigate what happened but it felt like hydraulics as first I lost the power steering and then the engine. It wasn't my best race but in general I feel I am improving all the time and looking forward to the second half of the season.
"We now need to work hard to build on that when we return after the summer."
Bottas was not the only driver who had a mechanical problem with Force India duo Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil also retiring.
"I made a good start and was very aggressive on the opening lap," said Britain's Di Resta. "I think I was up to about P12, but from there on it was difficult because I was struggling with the balance and tyre performance.
"Without the speed we did not have the flexibility to make the strategy work and points were looking out of reach.
"Towards the end of the race the team called me to the pits because it seems we had picked up a hydraulic issue, similar to the problem with the other car.
"Over the summer break we will regroup, analyse things properly and take a fresh approach into the second part of the year."
It was not a great afternoon for Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo, who recently staked his claim for a Red Bull spot next year with another impressive performance in qualifying with eighth. The Australian struggled in sweltering trackside temperatures which reached 48 degrees and finished 13th.
"Right from the start, it was clear we weren't really quick," he said.
"We struggled at Nurburgring as well, so the heat has got something to do with it. We could not match our competitors today, just lacking speed when we have a heavy fuel load, which is the opposite of what we tended to see with last year's car."
