Jenson Button was left to rue another pit-stop error from McLaren on a day when the Briton could have eased the team's current woes.
McLaren were plagued with pit-stop issues at the start of last season that resulted in the loss of numerous points and forced them to change a crew member at one stage.
Come the conclusion to the campaign the team were able to boast world record times of just over two seconds, such had been their improvement.
But in the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Button on course for at least a fifth-place finish as a previously woeful car showed a glimmer of hope for the future, more points were thrown away in the pits.
On this occasion, Button was released without the right-front wheel being pitted properly, forcing him to stop halfway down the pitlane where his crew pushed him back to finish the job.
By the time he returned to the track Button found himself a lap down, and although pushing for a point near the end, he was forced to retire a few laps from home with severe vibration to his front-left wheel.
"We did everything correctly, pitted on the correct laps and looked after the tyres as we should," said Button.
"We would have only had to have done three stops instead of four for those around us, which would have made it very interesting with the Mercedes (with Lewis Hamilton third and Nico Rosberg fourth).
"But we had a problem in the pit stop, it is what it is. Once I had turned the car off, had it pushed it back and the wheel changed, I was never going to get a result.
"I had a chance of getting a point in the end, but I had a problem with the front left which kept locking up.
"I had such a bad vibration we were worried about the suspension because of the locking, so we pulled it (the car).
"It's a lot of points to throw away when they are not easy to come by for us at the moment."
It is understood the gunman that fits the nut to the wheel to lock the tyre in place accidentally flicked a switch that turns the light green and allows Button to be released.
"Jenson did a great stop but we made a mistake which cost us and him dearly," said Team principal Martin Whitmarsh.
"There are a whole series of inter switches that make the lights go green, but I doubt there was a system problem.
"I suspect ultimately this was human and the human is the frail part of the system, sadly."
