Jenson Button describes Sergio Perez's driving as "too aggressive" during Bahrain GP

An irate Jenson Button has criticised team-mate Sergio Perez for being "too aggressive" after clashing with his McLaren team-mate during their riveting battle in the Bahrain GP.

Perhaps not, but what a dilemma the battle must have presented to team boss Martin Whitmarsh as he watched the drama unfold less than a week after instructing his new young charger to "toughen up" on track. Wasn't this Perez just simply following orders? "You don't hit your team-mate, though," countered the McLaren Team Principal as he faced up to the Sky Sports F1 punditry team with impressive resolve. "As I said to Checo, end-plate to rear tyre could have punctured Jenson and broken his front wing. That was over the limit. "I wasn't encouraging them to battle but neither was I discouraging them either. I had quite a lot of noise in my ear from people telling me that I should tell them to cool it. "I think one of the manoeuvres was wrong, and could have been calamitous for both of them - and he knows that." Speaking later, Button offered a more measured reflection of events - but did not shy away from making plain his grievances both with his team-mate and his team boss. "I didn't think it was the cleanest racing with Checo and into Turn Four we were wheel banging and that's not normally the way I like to race. But to be fair, I totally blame Martin for everything," Jenson added in a tongue-in-cheek aside that had Whitmarsh squirming and the Sky F1 team squealing in laughter. "'Be more aggressive' were you words. I don't know why they came out!" "I didn't mean on you," responded a laughing Whitmarsh. A lesson for all the teams perhaps: airing your dirty laundry in public can have a surprisingly - and refreshingly - cleansing effect.