Formula One:Jenson Button was left breathing a sigh of relief after a Belgian Grand Prix that lasted just 40 seconds for the championship leader. Despite failing to score any points in a race for the first time this year after being shunted into retirement by Renault's Romain Grosjean, Button was still smiling.
The 29-year-old went on to watch the remainder of the race from the Brawn GP pit wall, at the end of which his title lead had only been cut by a mere two points, with team-mate Rubens Barrichello now 16 adrift.
Of his closest rivals, Barrichello salvaged two points from seventh after a clutch problem at the start saw him plummet from fourth to last heading into the first corner, La Source hairpin.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel is now 19 points behind after a third-place finish behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, his first victory for 26 races, and Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella.
As for Mark Webber, the Australian trailed home ninth, primarily for incurring a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release from the pits as he almost collided into BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld.
“After the accident, and with me not scoring any points, it’s a relief,” said Button as he reflected on a weekend to forget.
“It’s better to have my first retirement here where I haven’t been so competitive, than when I’m running at the front.
“But I’m positive. There’s no reason to be down, even though I have lost two points of my championship lead, which is not good. It could’ve been worse, but then it could’ve been a lot better.
“Rubens got a bad start, and I was up in 12th or 11th. It could have been a good race for me until I got hit at turn five, which was obviously very disappointing.
“We’ve just got to hope it goes the other way at the next race (Italian Grand Prix at Monza).
“We’re determined to be more competitive there at a track which should be quite good for our car.”
Button, though, was left incredulous at the fact Grosjean blamed him for their crash at Les Combes.
It was one which also accounted for reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton who was broadsided by Jaime Alguersuari in his Toro Rosso.
Although the stewards investigated both incidents after the race, they decided no action would be taken against any driver.
Grosjean, insisting “Button took me out at turn five,” earned sharp shrift from the Briton in reply who said: “I can’t believe he’s blaming me. He hit me. But to be fair I don’t really care. It’s not really important. I didn’t score any points, and that’s what’s important.
“We’ve just got to look forward to Monza, and we’ve already talked over ideas for there, certain things you need to have a quick lap, and also how we go about the weekend.”