Button enjoys champagne moment as late pressure has Vettel in a spin

It was a rain-hit race that had everything, but it boiled down to the last lap just as the clock had also hit the two-hour limit.

Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel was hounded into making an error by Button, sliding wide at one stage to open the door, with the 31-year-old needing no second invitation.

Button then made it to the line for a sensational victory, the 10th of his career, and first since last year’s Chinese Grand Prix now 14 months ago.

How Button managed such a win is a remarkable story as he pitted six times in total, five occasions for tyres and once for a drive-through penalty for speeding behind the safety car.

In particular, though, he was also involved in an accident with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, resulting in his retirement.

Button was naturally emotional given what had transpired over the preceding few hours as the race also involved a two-hour delay for torrential rain.

“I really don’t know what to say, it’s been an emotional three hours,” said Button.

“Regarding the incident with Lewis I didn’t see him and I’ve apologised to him. We both agree it was one of those things.

“For me it was a fantastic race. Even if I hadn’t won I would have enjoyed this race immensely, but it’s a win, definitely my best.

“I’m definitely going to be celebrating. I’ll have a good night and enjoy what I achieved. A big thank you to the team for what they’ve done.”

Vettel, who led for the majority of the race through all the chaos, said: “Of course I’m disappointed.

“I was probably too conservative at the last safety car and I did not open up enough of a gap.

“Then when it came down to the fight at the end the mistake was down to me, I locked up the rear. When there is only one line I ended up in the wet

“It is still a good day as many mistakes were made and cars did not finish, yet we’ve picked up good points.”

Vettel, who has opened up a 60-point lead to Button, added: “When you’ve got it in your hands and you give it away, it’s not the sweetest of feelings.”

Button’s race was in stark contrast to that of Hamilton who came to grief on lap eight.

After being given two drive-through penalties in Monaco for causing collisions with Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado, you would have thought Hamilton might have learned his lesson.

But not a bit of it as he went gung-ho at the start after the safety car had pulled in following the opening four laps due to a wet track, and ultimately paid the highest of penalties.

Through the opening corners on lap five Hamilton first dived up the inside of Red Bull’s Mark Webber, resulting in contact, sending the Australian into a spin.

Hamilton lost two places, dropping from fifth to seventh, however Webber plunged towards the rear, and it came as no surprise when the stewards announced an investigation into the incident.

Within minutes, though, it was cancelled as Hamilton had crashed out of the race, committing the cardinal sin of motor racing in colliding with his team-mate.

Having passed Button once, he was forced to try and do it all over again after running wide at the hairpin in attempting to take Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes.

Lining up Button down the start-finish straight, Hamilton pulled out to pass, at which point his team-mate had started to drift across onto the racing line.

It resulted in Button squeezing his colleague against the pitwall, the left-rear wheel of Hamilton’s McLaren hitting the concrete and sustaining a puncture.

Although Hamilton tried to continue, it was apparent the damage was too severe, forcing him to pull over soon after, resulting in the deployment of the safety car.

It resulted in Button screaming over the radio: “What was he doing?”, with the incident forcing him into the pits for a tyre change.

From his position, Hamilton said: “Jenson made a mistake into the corner and I got the run on him.

“I felt I was halfway up the outside, but he kept moving across. Whether or not he saw me I don’t know, but then I was in the wall.”

Three-time world champion Niki Lauda, however, has described Hamilton as “completely mad”.

In his commentary for German television station RTL, Lauda added: “You cannot drive like this as it will result in someone getting killed.”

The stewards made it clear they would be going on to investigate the matter after the race, which could result in a sanction against Hamilton as it will be his sixth visit in seven races to the four-man panel.

As the early part of the race unfolded it was not long before it had to be halted one again as the rain hit hard again, resulting in a two-hour wait.

When the racing resumed the incidents continued, not least with the incident involving Button and Alonso which is also being looked at by the stewards.

Button sustained a puncture dropping him towards the rear, yet he clawed his way through the field, in particular as a dry line began to appear.

A crash involving Renault’s Nick Heidfeld on lap 56 of 70 brought out the safety car for a fifth time.

It bunched up the field and led to a fight to the finish between Vettel, Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes, Webber and Button, who was running fourth.

A mistake from Webber, cutting a chicane, allowed Button to claim third before he then made a move on Schumacher to take second.

At that stage there were five laps or five minutes to run, and the drama continued until the dying seconds courtesy of Vettel’s unexpected error.

Webber netted third ahead of Schumacher, with Renault’s Vitaly Petrov fifth, whilst Felipe Massa in his Ferrari stunningly pipped Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi on the line for sixth.