Monaco Grand Prix: Jenson Button defends role in Pascal Wehrlein crash

Jenson Button has defended his role in the extraordinary collision with Pascal Wehrlein during his one-off appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Button, taking part in the Monte Carlo race following Fernando Alonso's participation at the Indianapolis 500, was in last place when he attempted an over-exuberant manoeuvre on Wehrlein at Portier.

The 37-year-old's lunge backfired and only succeeded in flipping Wehrlein's Sauber onto its side.

The German was trapped in his cockpit for several minutes as his car lay precariously on the barriers. After it was rolled back on to all four wheels, he mercifully emerged without any obvious injury.

The stewards took a dim view of Button's move and hit him with a three-place grid drop which he will be forced to serve if he races again this season.

"You do struggle to see in these cars, but you don't think in that moment that the guy's not going to see me when you go up the inside," Button said.

"I gave it a go and thought it was a fair enough judgment, but it didn't work out.

"You never like seeing a car tip over because you don't know if his head's going to hit anything, but the most important thing is that Pascal is okay.

"I spoke to him and he's a bit shaken, of course, but the best thing is he walked out okay."

Wehrlein missed the opening two races of the season with a back injury he sustained following a crash at January's Race of Champions exhibition event in Miami.

He was taken to the on-track medical centre here for a precautionary check-up before revealing that he will undergo a scan on his back next week.

"Clearly this corner is no place to overtake, so it was a silly move," Wehrlein said. "It was scary. The brakes started to smoke and I couldn't get out of the car. Obviously the only thing I wanted to do was to get out of the car when you see the car start to smoke.

"I touched again the head on the barrier, so I will have to do another scan next week for my back."

Button's comeback in Monaco, five races after he walked away from the sport in Abu Dhabi last November, was largely one to forget.

He qualified an impressive ninth, but was demoted to the back of the grid following an engine penalty, and spent all of the race behind Wehrlein before their crash with 18 laps remaining.

Button was forced to retire following the damage sustained to the front of his McLaren in the incident. It capped yet another disappointing day for the British team after Stoffel Vandoorne also failed to finish following a crash in the closing stages.

"Today was a bit frustrating," Button added. "I'm sorry to the team for even more damage this weekend.

"I enjoyed some laps today too, but obviously I never want to damage that car, and it's not something I do very often."

Double world champion Alonso is due to return to the McLaren cockpit for the sixth round of the championship in Canada in a fortnight's time.