Button 'Very Lucky' to Escape Serious Crash

Jenson Button said he was "very, very lucky" to escape a serious accident after a tyre blow-out caused him to collide with the Minardi of Zsolt Baumgartner during Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

Button was running fourth and lapping Hungarian Baumgartner as the pair climbed the hill after the flat-out Eau Rouge corner when his tyre disintegrated and pitched him hard right into the side of the Minardi.

The pair collided at high speed and Button said: "It was very scary. The worst thing is there was another car involved if I had hit him differently I think it could have been even worse.

"We were very, very lucky, both of us, it could have been disastrous and that sort of thing shouldn't happen. I am here, so it wasn't really a bad accident but it could have been horrific - over 200mph with two cars involved.

"The only warning I had was about 100 metres before I had the problem, there is a bump on the straight and after that the car slightly crabbed and I came off the throttle slightly then it snapped to oversteer so I couldn't do anything."

Briton Button's retirement was only his second of the season ­ his last coming in the United States Grand Prix in June when his car suffered a gearbox failure ­ but he is still third in the Drivers' Championship.

Rubens Barrichello extended his advantage over Button in second place by six points to 23 but the chasing pack, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso, both failed to finish in Spa and remain 19 and 18 points back respectively.