Malaysian Grand Prix 2012: McLaren's Jenson Button apologises after a collision with Narain Karthikeyan It was then a case of picking people off, but I hit the brakes in turn nine and locked the rears. It was totally my fault. When I came back out, I could not do anything in the race. It seems that everyone was doing reasonably similar times, no matter what car you were in. It was the weirdest race. But the reason I was down there was because it was my mistake when I hit Karthikeyan and I blew what could have been some good points. I will just put it behind me. I am amazed that I'm still third in the championship. Button's team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, said he was much happier with his third place than he had been in Melbourne the previous Sunday when his dark mood post-race prompted speculation that he was finding it difficult to cope with his team-mate's form. "I won't complain," Hamilton said. I think the car has been good all weekend and the team did a good job and I'm on the podium again, which is my target, to have consistency. Hamilton's serenity, despite starting on pole and finishing third for a second race in succession, was easy to comprehend. Not only was the race something of a lottery, with the wet conditions, but neither of his chief rivals for the world title banked a point; Button coming 14th and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel also finishing out of the points in 11th place. It was an interesting race. Obviously we would have been much happier if we had finished where we started, but the other two drivers did a fantastic job," said Hamilton of Alonso and Sauber's Sergio Perez. I tried my hardest to catch them. It was just a very eventful race, really. Trying to find the right time to change from the extreme tyres to mediums. We were probably a bit late with that, and then to slicks. Making the call is down to whether you take the risk or not, and the others went a little bit earlier. We lost a bit of time in our pit stops, so I lost a bit of time there. Trying to close a 12-second gap was pretty tough. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, meanwhile, heaped pressure on Ferrari's under fire driver Felipe Massa, saying that Perez's performance on Sunday must have put pressure on the Brazilian. "He was a revelation, I imagine he has put a bit of pressure on Mr Massa," said Whitmarsh. I don't know what the odds are on him switching teams before China, but there must be consideration.