Jenson Button penalized for collision with Pascal Wehrlein

This will surely remain as the image of the race: Pascal Wehrlein’s Sauber lying on its side at the entrance of the tunnel. While this brought out the safety car, it was caused by a collision with Jenson Button’s McLaren.

The Briton, back behind the wheel to replace Fernando Alonso, experienced a rather complicated weekend. Although he never made a mistake, his highlight was securing ninth position in qualifying. However, it was quickly negated due to a 15-place penalty related to changes on his engine.

Relegated to the back of the pack, he ultimately chose to start from the pit lane and then attempt an alternate strategy by switching to super-soft tires at the end of the first lap. But Pascal Wehrlein was on the same strategy, and the Briton was never able to find an opening.

He finally thought he had him when the German moved aside to let Sebastian Vettel pass. The McLaren driver then dove inside, but this maneuver turned into an accident: « Today, it was a bit frustrating. As a driver, it’s hard to just drive at the back and not try anything. So I tried. I thought it would work out, but it didn’t. I’m sorry for the team for making the weekend even worse. »

But more than the material damage to his car, he was worried about Pascal Wehrlein’s health. He was therefore relieved to learn that the Sauber driver was able to get out of his car unscathed: « You never like to see a car flip over because you don’t know if its head will hit something. The most important thing is that Pascal is okay. I spoke to him. He is obviously a bit shaken, but the most important thing is that he’s fine. »

In strict application of the maxim “the law is the law,” the FIA has decided to penalize the future retiree by three places on the grid for his next start. This time, it applies to the driver and not the car, which means Fernando Alonso will not be affected upon his return from the United States.

But this safety car had an indirect impact on the second McLaren.

Thus, Stoffel Vandoorne was in a fine 10th place, meaning his first point of the year. Unfortunately for him, his tires were cold at the restart, and he made a mistake at Sainte-Dévote because he wanted to keep his position at all costs:

At the end of the race, I knew it would be tough at the restart. It’s always difficult to heat up the super-softs and we knew we couldn’t mimic Sergio and Felipe, who ran the super-softs behind the safety car. It wasn’t possible for us: when you’re in the top 10, you have to maintain your position. It was difficult to get the tires and brakes up to temperature. I had nowhere to go at the first corner.

In these conditions, the drivers had no choice but to turn to their television screens to follow Fernando Alonso’s race in Indianapolis.

An awesome crowd has gathered in our USA-themed Brand Centre in Monaco to cheer on Fernando at the #Indy500. #RaceOfTwoWorlds 🇲🇨🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BF45RqVzJb

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) 28 mai 2017

From our special correspondent in Monaco