The stewards’ punishment did not cause Button too much hardship, dropping him from 13th after finishing behind McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, to 14th with Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr promoted one place.

It was a rare mistake from Button, who aimed to pass Maldonado at the end of the start-finish straight, only to pull out of the move and in turn run into the back of the Lotus as it braked.

“I thought there was room on the inside,” said Button, who had been dicing with Maldonado for a number of laps prior to that.

“It was a good fight up until that point. It’s a shame when you crash, I don’t do it very often, and it’s always horrible when you do, and I’m not very happy it happened.

“Obviously a collision is something you never want to see happen. It was just a misjudgment, I guess.”

After starting 17th and 18th, one positive is McLaren managed to get both cars to the finish for the first time this season.

The lack of pace, though, from the Honda power unit remains a cause for concern, something that might not be addressed until the first race in Europe in early May when the F1 circus heads to Barcelona.

“Today wasn’t too bad, although we’re still fighting at the back of the field, which is a shame,” added Button.

“It’s positive to see we’re progressing. Both cars ran different strategies which made it quite interesting, and I had some fun out there.

“In the end we both finished, which is another goal made, although I crossed the line missing a bit of front wing.

“We can take a lot from here, and although we don’t want to be where we are, it’s progress and that’s what is interesting

“It means we go to Bahrain hoping for more, but I feel it will be relatively difficult.

“When we head to Europe that will hopefully work out a little better for the team.

“Right now we need to improve at every race because we’re quite a long way back.”