Fry unrepentant of decision not to finish

Button's engine blew up coming out of the final corner and in a split second decision his race engineer Andrew Shovlin issued the simple four-word order: "Don't cross the line."

That meant Button sacrificed an almost certain three points for finishing sixth, but it does at least mean he will not be hit with a 10-place grid penalty at the San Marino Grand Prix for changing his engine.

Although some have questioned Honda's decision to give up the points, Fry is sure that the decision to stop Button was spot on.

The sport's regulations indicate that any driver that finishes the race, which Button would have done had he crossed the line, cannot change his engine without penalty.

Fry said: "Clearly what we will do, as we will do with everything, is have an evaluation of the situation. But at the moment we feel it was the right decision.

"We lost points here but we can go to Imola with a clean sheet of paper, a new engine and improvements to the car. Hopefully we can turn it into a good race position next time around."

Fry said that there was no indication of a problem on Button's engine until the final lap, when the British driver said he felt the characteristics of his power-unit change.

"We didn't hear anything on the radio or data about it, but Jenson said he felt the engine not pick up properly on the last lap through the fast corners at the back. He felt that something was not quite right. But when he saw the smoke he kept his foot in."

Despite Honda's decision to tell Button to stop, it is not clear whether his RA106 would actually have made it across the finish line because of the transmission seizing up as a result of the blown engine.

Button certainly thought that he would not have made it.

"Two corners from the end I felt it was a little bit down on power, a little bit tight, and then coming out of the last corner there was a massive, massive fire and lots of smoke," he said.

"So I pulled over to the right to get out of everyone's way but it seized just before I got to the finish line. I stopped the car anyway, it wouldn't have made the finish line anyway."