Benetton drivers apologise to each other...

Gascoyne believes the collision was actually a result of Fisichella hitting Enrique Bernoldi's Arrows at the previous corner, breaking his front wing and robbing him of downforce under braking.

"The two drivers apologised to each other thinking both were at fault but in the end it was down to the collision between Bernoldi and Giancarlo," said Gascoyne. "That broke his front wing and meant he had trouble under braking and went into the back of Jenson."

Button's race had been a nightmare from the start after he incurred a stop-go penalty and also made another pit stop to see if the car was okay after the Fisichella collision. He then retired with an oil problem after 18 laps.

"My car started to creep a little at the start despite the clutch being right at the biting point," said Button, who was 20th on the grid. "That led me to picking up a stop-go penalty for moving too soon.

"Then the first lap was just mad, with absolutely loads of things going on all over the place. It can be great fun when it's like that, but we didn't gain many places.

"On the way down to the hairpin I came alongside Giancarlo on the straight and he braked early. I then moved over because Bernoldi came across as well, and then Giancarlo ran into the back of me, which unfortunately destroyed his race.

"It also damaged my rear wing which did not help the balance of the car. It was very skittish under braking. I came into the pits but tt wasn't too bad so we decided to carry on, and I don't think the lap times were too bad in the circumstances."

After his two unscheduled stops Button was already running at the back of the field when the oil leak forced him to retire. The young Englishman has yet to score a single point since moving to Benetton at the start of the 2001 season.