HUNGARIAN GP
Button: Briton hits out at drive-through penalty in Hungary
McLaren driver Jenson Button has expressed his unhappiness at being penalised over radio dialogue with his team in Sunday's Hungarian GP.
Jenson Button said he should not have been penalised for receiving a radio message to warn him about a brake failure during Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 2009 world champion lost use of his brakes during the early part of the race and told his McLaren team, who responded by saying, "do not shift, we have lost hydraulic pressure".
This radio dialogue resulted in a stewards' inquiry and he was given a drive-through penalty because the dialogue was seen as un-related to a safety issue.
"For me that's a safety concern"
At the time, Button said: "So, the brake pedal going to the floor is not classed as a safety issue?
"Quite interesting... I think Charlie [Whiting, the FIA Race Director] needs to read up on what is safe and what isn't."
Later, he said: "The brake pedal went to the floor and obviously it's never nice for a driver to get that feeling.
"For me that's a safety concern - a safety problem.
"The guys gave me a switch change, so it didn't happen again, so the pedal wouldn't go to the floor again and we got penalised for that.
"We had a drive-through for that even though I was last. We're told that if you're told you have a problem you have to pit.
"I'm guessing that you have to pit earlier than we did.
"I don't think you should get punished"
"There are certain things we shouldn't be telling drivers because we need to deal with it ourselves, but when you have a power unit that's so complex, a driver can't figure it out himself.
"And when your brake pedal goes to the floor, I figure that's a safety concern and I don't think you should get punished. It could end in an incident."