Jenson Button and Bernie Collins have come to the support of Ferrari after the "confusion" surrounding the start of Lewis Hamilton's last push lap in Q1 at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The seven-time F1 drivers' champion aborted what could have been a final effort, incorrectly believing he had failed to reach the timing line in time to open a new lap as his dashboard flashed red.
It consigned him to P20 and last on the grid, having set the slowest time in the rain-soaked first qualifying session under the lights of Sin City.
For the first time in his F1 career, Hamilton will start from the back on pure pace, having needlessly backed out of the last-ditch opportunity.
It soon became evident he had made a mistake amid the chaos of the moment in dreadful conditions, but having encountered a yellow flag late on the lap before, and temporarily collected a bollard beneath his SF-25, Hamilton did not feel it would have made much difference.
However, Button — his former McLaren team-mate — emphasised how important it is to keep going until told otherwise, something the 105-time grand prix winner did not do.
"Keep going until they tell you to slow down," the 2009 F1 drivers' champion said on Sky Sports F1.
"I guess you should know every regulation. It's really tricky as a driver, though, if you see red lights flash up in front of you, you think it's over.
"But the timing line is obviously before that, and he knows that, because he gets the time on the dash for the previous lap time.
"But when it's that tricky out there, there's so much going on, he's probably kind of happy it's over, in a way, but he's lost focus on what is correct for starting the next lap."
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Hamilton at fault?
When it was put to him that the Ferrari pit wall would have known the situation would be tight, Button replied: "But they don't know that he doesn't know that the timing line is different to the red light gantry," in explanation of the timing line and start/finish line being in different places.
Collins defended Riccardo Adami, Hamilton's race engineer, highlighting that he took steps to prevent his driver from backing out the throttle.
"Just to come in on that a little bit, I was trying to listen to it during commentary, and I went back and listened to it when Lewis went out, because it was clear from the radio [that] there was a bit of confusion over the light," Collins said.
"So on the lap before, the lap where he's coming towards the line, the pit wall does tell him it's going to be tight for one more lap, keep pushing to get another lap.
"So that's a clear indication to a driver: one, that you're not safe if they tell you to keep pushing to get another lap; and two, that it's tight for the line, but they think it's possible, or they wouldn't tell you that.
"So he was told that earlier on in the lap. Then, when he crosses the line, Lewis says: 'Am I safe?'
"His engineer comes on, says: 'No, keep pushing.' And Lewis said: 'I got the light, I got the red light.' And the engineer goes on again and goes: 'No, keep pushing'.
"But at that stage, it's too late, so the difficult... He was given — I didn't go back and listen to all of that — before he got to the line, the information that it was going to be tight and he needed to keep pushing.
"Then, when he got the red light, he assumed that maybe Ferrari got the timing slightly wrong, or he didn't make the flag, or whatever, because... there's a lot going on, as Jenson said.
"So he thought he didn't get it. He instantly lifts off. Then it's too late. As soon as the driver lifts off, there's no point in telling them to push again, because you've already lost the lap. And all of those things went together. But I think, to defend the Ferrari pit wall, the information was there."
When Button was accused of defending Hamilton, with former Aston Martin race strategist Collin defending the team, the 15-time grand prix winner responded: "No."
He added: "It's a tricky one. He's not the first one that's probably made this mistake.
"But yeah, the timing line is a different line to the gantry. You should know that, because the time comes up on your dash. We all get told what our lap times are when we cross that line."
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