Brundle Says Ham, Button and Vettel Should Receive Penalties

The last couple of races in Formula One have seen a few bold moves made by some of the drivers, that eventually went unpunished by the FIA stewards. Even with the new system put in place by the International Automobile Federation – having a former GP driver assist the stewards during race weekends – the latest incidents that happened in Malaysia and China led to only minor penalties such as warnings and reprimands.

First we had Lewis Hamilton's weaving in front of Vitaly Petrov in Malaysia (warning), then the same Hamilton raced wheel-to-wheel against Sebastian Vettel in the pit lane (reprimand) and then we had Jenson Button's slowing down on purpose behind the safety car so the racers behind him would find it almost impossible to stay on the track.

Writing in his weekly BBC column after the race in Shanghai, former McLaren driver and current BBC commentator Martin Brundle believes this latent attitude from the stewards could affect their credibility in the near future. Additionally, he admitted he would have easily handed those 3 drivers a severe grid penalty for the upcoming race in Barcelona.

“They both received a reprimand, but what does that mean? How long does a reprimand last and how many are you allowed to collect before a real penalty?” asked Brundle.

“They are lucky I wasn't the resident driver steward for the weekend because I would have strongly recommended dropping them both some penalty places on the grid for the next race in Barcelona. The decision taken has set a very dangerous precedent.”

“I wouldn't have been a popular steward with my former McLaren team but that job is not a popularity contest. Ask any referee,” added the BBC pundit.

His comments come only a day after F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone played the advocate role for Hamilton in telling the other drivers to stop moaning at the Brit's racing style in recent races. How's that for setting a great example?