Jenson Button surprised McLaren not in more grand prix accidents

Button's British Grand Prix lasted only three corners after he was collected by his spinning team-mate Fernando Alonso as several cars collided in the midfield on the opening lap at Silverstone.

"When you're starting so far back there is always a chance that this happens and I'm surprised it hasn't happened more often," said Button.

"That's the problem though when you're at the back, there's more chance of an incident, there are more cars in front to crash.

"It happens sometimes and we've just got to get quicker as soon as possible so we don't find ourselves in this situation."

Button said he and Alonso have no choice but to get involved in the first lap scraps rather than trying to play it safe.

"We can't just drive onto the first lap letting everyone by, we're here to race and fight.

"As drivers we need that - we haven't had it a lot this year, because of the pace of the car.

"We need to fight but when you're this far back, this thing happens much more often."

Button accepted there was nothing Alonso could do in the moments that led to the McLarens colliding.

"Two cars had a bit of an incident and Fernando tried to miss them," he said.

"I think he lost the rear trying to drive away from them and not collect them.

"He was spinning, I was alongside and I thought there was enough room but I didn't realise he was spinning.

"So he clipped the rear wheel, my car went up in the air and it came down quite aggressively and turned off."