McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh denies employing team orders to keep Sergio Perez and Jenson Button apart On that occasion Perez ran into the back of Button and later banged wheels, much to the Briton's immediate post-race anger that sparked talks to clear the air between the duo, Whitmarsh and sporting director Sam Michael. Did we ask him to back off and not fight? No, we didn't. In truth, there was a battle on in prospect, but at the end Checo's tyres were completely shot. We could see by the tyre wear he was likely to run out of rubber by the end of the race, and he very nearly did. If you look at his tyres there is nothing there. He flat-spotted at one point because his tyre temperatures went off on the last set in chasing Jenson, and he is entitled to chase. It was tight, but obviously not quite as close a contest as we had in Bahrain. Even Checo said at the end his tyres were finished. So the message was not tactical, it was practical. Perez reinforced Whitmarsh's comments when he wrote on Twitter: "Just want to tell everyone, the radio message was all about to save the tyres. Never a team order. Can't wait for Monaco.