Penalised Button adamant his brake problem was safety issue

Jenson Button believes he should not have received a drive-through penalty for a radio message that was related to his brake pedal going to the floor in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

In the early stages of the race, Button was told on the radio “do not shift, we have lost hydraulic pressure”.

After being told of his penalty, Button replied: “So the brake pedal going to the floor is not classed as a safety issue? Quite interesting. I think Charlie needs to read up on what is safe and what isn’t.”

After the race, Button said the advice he received to change his settings was related to the brake problem and didn’t feel he should have been penalised.

“The brake pedal went to the floor, and obviously it’s never nice for a driver to get that feeling," he said. "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. And I’m guessing you have to pit earlier than we did. There are certain things we shouldn’t to 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 for themselves.

“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 accident.”