Singapore GP: Jenson Button relieved to avoid safety car collision with Sebastian Vettel

The McLaren driver avoided a collision with Vettel by just inches as the pair were weaving while attempting to warm-up their tyres as the safety car prepared to pull in at the end of lap 36.

Having been caught out by race leader Vettel braking suddenly in front of him, Button lost control of his car and was just able to steer it away from the Red Bull instead of hitting it.

Vettel won the race while Button finished second.

"We were waiting for the restart. Sebastian accelerated and braked for the right-hander and I didn't expect such a speed difference," Button said.

"I locked up and just missed his car - which would have been embarrassing."

The stewards are looking into the incident.

Button said that his second-place finish was a small consolation for his retirement at Monza last time out.

But he also hinted that McLaren needs to get on top of its reliability problems of late, after Lewis Hamilton retired from the lead of the Singapore race.

"It was a good second place, which I am happy with, because you cannot win them all," he added.

"But for us, as a team, to have another failure this weekend is disappointing.

"At least the important thing is we have a quick car and every race we go to we have a chance of winning."