Engineer got Button hold-station prediction wrong – McLaren

(GMM) An engineer was wrong to tell Lewis Hamilton that his teammate Jenson Button would not overtake during the recent Turkish grand prix.

A video edit of the Istanbul Park race released by F1's official website revealed that Phil Prew, the British team's principal engineer, answered 'No Lewis, no" when Hamilton asked if Button would overtake him.

Conspiracy theorists interpreted the news as 2009 world champion Button having ignored a veiled team order.

But team boss Martin Whitmarsh explained on Tuesday: "Phil gave an opinion to Lewis, and as it turned out his opinion was wrong. It's as simple as that.

"They were being told to look after fuel, (and) as a consequence of that Phil Prew had the opinion that Jenson wouldn't overtake," he told reporters during a teleconference.