Jenson Button considers himself lucky

The action took place at the very end of the first free practice session this morning in the Principality of Monaco. In the wake of the Mercedes Nico Rosberg's W07 Hybrid, Jenson Button could not avoid manhole cover, ejected as the car to the star. The Briton hit the element with the front right of his MP4-31, subsequently causing a puncture in addition to damage to the front wing, the brake duct, the suspension and the floor pan.

A rare situation, which caused the premature end of the session, and which provoked the logical reaction of the former Brawn GP driver. “A circuit is a controlled environment, Button reminds. We take enough risks as a racing driver.

Normally the safety standards here are excellent, but this incident is something we don't want to see. I was lucky that the sewer guard stayed pretty close to the ground. »

“The organizers are working very hard to ensure this circuit is as safe as possible, but we need to examine exactly what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. » further clarified Eric Boullier, competition director of Mclaren racing.