Button sorry for car damage, happy with memories of F1 swansong

Jenson Button apologised to the McLaren Formula 1 team after damaging his car in a bizarre crash with Pascal Wehrlein during Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, but was otherwise happy with his one-off comeback.

Button returned to a McLaren race seat for Monaco following Fernando Alonso's decision to race in the Indianapolis 500, with his first run in the McLaren-Honda MCL32 coming on Thursday in practice.

Button qualified ninth on Saturday, but dropped to the back of the grid due to an engine penalty, with McLaren opting to start the 2009 world champion from the pit lane.

Button spent the entirety of his race battling with Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein, only for both to retire following a clash at Portier that saw the latter's car tip onto its side against the wall.

"As a racing driver it's difficult to run around near the back and not have a go," Button said, having called the race "painful" at one point through team radio.

"I had a go and it didn't work out. Sorry to the team for even more damage this weekend after [Stoffel Vandoorne's] crash in qualifying, my incident now. Sorry for that. It's difficult to hold back.

"But yesterday was awesome, I had a lot of good memories."

While Button confirmed he'll be back in the paddock later this year, he stressed that it would not be as a racing driver.

"You'll definitely see me at other races but I won't be driving, no," he said.