Jenson Button insists the radio restrictions have gone too far in penalising a driver for getting assitance with a problem that could lead to a crash, after he was handed a drive-through penalty during the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver reported that his brake pedal was "going all the way down to the floor" during the race and quickly dropped down the field from ninth to last as a result.
He was then given some information to resolve the problem, which infringed the radio communication rules, resulting in a drive-through penalty, despite the Briton already making a trip through the pits.
"To be fair the problem resolved itself," he explained. "Basically the brake pedal went to the floor. It's never nice for a driver to get that feeling and the brakes weren't there.
"It's a safety concern, a safety problem. It resolved itself and the guys gave me a switch change to do so it wouldn't happen again, so the pedal wouldn't go to the floor again.
"We got penalised for that – a drive-through for that – even though I was already last.
"We pitted but because, if you have information on track, you have to drive through the pits. We did that. I don't think it really matters that I was last and got a drive-through," he added. "If you have a problem you have to pit, I guess earlier than we did."
Whilst Button agrees that some radio communication should be banned, he believes anything relating to safety should be permitted.
"There are certain things you shouldn't tell drivers because we should be able to deal with some things ourself," he said.
"When you have a power unit that is so complex, a driver can't figure out eveyrthing for themselves and when the brake pedal goes to the floor I think of that as a safety concern. You shouldn't get punished for fixing a safety concern when it could lead to an accident."
Button later retired with an oil leak, which could cost him a power unit: "It was an oil leak. Not sure if it's salvageable. I don't think so," he concluded.
