Button admits he was ‘lucky'
BAR-Honda's Jenson Button admits he was lucky to escape a serious crash in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix after suffering a high-speed puncture at Les Combes
Button was running in fourth spot when he passed the Minardi of Zsolt Baumgartner as he headed towards Les Combes. Just as he was braking his right rear tyre blew sending him into spin and clipping the Hungarian before coming to a halt.
"I was lucky in one way but it could have been horrific if I'd hit his [Baumgartner's] back tyre, we were very very lucky, I don't think I've ever been that lucky in an accident," a relieved Button said.
"There was not much [of a warning] there was a bump on the straight and after the bump I thought I might have had a failure and then it snapped and I couldn't do anything."
The race was equally eventful for team-mate Takuma Sato who was in trouble on the opening lap when he was hit by the Jaguar of Mark Webber at Eau Rouge.
""What a race today!" the Japanese driver exclaimed. "We could have finished in a strong position and personally I was extremely disappointed after we had a really good start and I was running in 8th position. Montoya was overtaking me on the right-hand side at the top of the hill whilst I was passing Webber on his right, and I became sandwiched between the two cars. I didn't know what
happened at the time, but Webber then hit me."
Team boss David Richards added: "Well what can you say about a day like that? In fact, this has been a weekend that has thrown virtually everything at us! One has to look on the positive side, however, and with our nearest rivals also failing to score, we have preserved the status quo in terms of Championship position and there is everything to fight for in the remaining four races of the season."
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