Jenson Button 'over-reacted' to Lewis Hamilton collision

Jenson Button says he "over-reacted" in the aftermath of the German Grand Prix to Lewis Hamilton's overtaking attempt on him during the race.

Hamilton damaged the front wing of his Mercedes in the move on lap 30.

McLaren driver Button initially said: "I don't think I'm the only person he drove into. It's strange when the car is much quicker; you wouldn't think he'd get into such fights."

But he later tweeted: "After watching the race back, think I over-reacted."

Hamilton finished third behind team-mate Nico Rosberg and Williams's Valtteri Bottas and is now 14 points behind Rosberg in the championship with nine races to go.

Button, team-mates with his fellow Briton at McLaren for three years, said he could "understand why he thought I was giving him room".

He followed that up with a second tweet including a picture of the incident, which showed the two cars touching mid-corner, adding: "Amazed we both got around the corner!! F1 put on a great show today and long may it continue."

Hamilton felt the damage caused to his car by the incident had cost him a chance of second place.

He lost downforce and was forced to make an extra pit stop because he was wearing his tyres too much as a result.

Hamilton said: "Jenson has been very much a gentleman in not giving me too much trouble to pass in previous races.

"So when I was approaching him at quite a big rate I was planning to go on the inside but I wasn't close enough but I was on that line.

"It looked like he'd backed off and gone wide so I thought: 'OK I'm taking the line.' And then he cuts back across.

"I don't know whether he didn't see me or what but it was a bit unfortunate."

Button collected four points to remain eighth in the overall standings but was unhappy with the team strategy that left him to race the final 37 laps on one set of tyres.

"We definitely got it wrong with the second stop," he said.

"I don't know why we stopped so early. It made it impossible to hold onto the tyres at the end of the race."

Hamilton's charge took him to a podium finish but he was unable to pass Finland's Valtteri Bottas, who held onto second spot in his Williams.

And in doing so, he became the first Williams driver to record three successive podium places since Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2003 German, Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix.

"To keep a Mercedes behind at the end of the race was promising, showing that the car is very strong," said the 24-year-old.

"The engineers shared a lot of information with me about the tyres and where Hamilton was and that team work was the key to the good result. "

Britain's Max Chilton, 23, finished 17th in his Marussia to continue his impressive record of race completions, which now stands at 28 from his first 29 Grands Prix.

Lewis Hamilton had a couple of brushes, including this one with Kimi Raikkonen, on his way to third place in the German Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas has scored points in as many races this season - nine - as championship leader Nico Rosberg