Former Formula One champion and presenter Jenson Button has addressed the five-second penalty Lewis Hamilton attracted for exceeding track limits after the brakes failed on his SF-25 F1 car during the Singapore Grand Prix. The FIA stewards noted that the seven-time world champion missed 10 braking zones in the last leg of the race, leading to the penalty.

After a long struggle, Hamilton was happy with his SF-25 ahead of the race, having outqualified his teammate Charles Leclerc by securing a P6 race start. The second stint of the Singapore race saw him come alive after Ferrari fitted his car with soft tires. In just a few laps, he closed 17 seconds to the car in front. At the end, he was chasing Andrea Kimi Antonelli for a P5 finish, and the feat was well within his reach.

Unfortunately, that was when his brakes gave in, as sparks could be seen emitting from them. This reduced the stopping power of his car significantly, forcing him to slow down. He lost the sixth place to Leclerc, but the gap of more than 35 seconds to Fernando Alonso behind him began to drop quickly.

Despite the setback, Hamilton had to finish the race. He went off track repeatedly due to the failed brakes and missed several corners. He nearly lost seventh place to Alonso, who had gotten closer, but Hamilton crossed the finish line before him. However, he was eventually dropped to P8 after receiving the 5-second penalty. Button was surprised by the penalty, considering the number of times the Briton exceeded track limits. He said:

“Honest, I’m amazed. Five seconds? Doesn’t sound like a lot for the amount of apexes that… the amount of corners he didn’t go around.”

Asked if he ever experienced something similar, he said:

“No, not in a race. I had it in testing a lot of 23 years ago, but not a race. Normally, you feel it as well, and the team know that they’re getting a bit hot.”

The FIA stated that Hamilton’s argument of going off track to manage his brake failure situation was not justifiable. The steward’s report stated:

“During the hearing, the driver confirmed that he left the track at several occasions. He was trying to manage a brakes issue situation.

“This being said, after further investigation, and in accordance with the list of exemptions foreseen in the Driving Standards Guidelines, the Stewards considered that this was not a justifiable reason and apply the usual penalty for such type of infringement. This was not contested by the team representative nor the driver.”