Button furious over radio rules

The Briton slowed from eighth place early on when his brake pedal went to the floor due to a lack of hydraulic pressure.

McLaren diagnosed a sensor failure and informed Button of a switch change that would solve it.

Though Button then pitted, as the latest revision of the regulations demands drivers do when given technical advice, he was still given a drive-through penalty and believed this was because the message had come when he was still on track.

"It's a stupid regulation," he argued.

"I completely understand that drivers should not be fed information that helps us drive the car.

"I'm totally with that because I think it's wrong that we're told every corner where our team-mate is quicker or slower than us, and fuel saving should be down to us, and so many other things should be down to us.

"But when it's a safety concern with the brake pedal going to the floor, you shouldn't be penalised for stopping an accident, and that's what we did today.

"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.

"When you have a power unit that is so complex, a driver can't figure everything himself and when your brake pedal goes to the floor, I think of that as a safety concern.

"I think it's a joke really. Stopping an incident should be praised, not penalised.

"The sport's got a long way to go before it's good again."

An additional car problem left Button grappling with understeer, and he ultimately retired from a distant 19th with a late oil leak.

"It didn't make me want to be a Formula 1 driver," he said of the remainder of his race. "It wasn't very enjoyable at all."

McLaren scored its sixth points finish of the season and consolidated its seventh position in the constructors' championship as Fernando Alonso took seventh in the race.

Alonso had been seventh in all three practice sessions and on the grid, and said overcoming Carlos Sainz Jr's Toro Rosso for the same spot in the race provided little excitement.

"It was a little bit boring to be honest in some points of the race," he said.

"Not much action today. Not the usual Budapest show.

"I think we were the best of the rest because the top six - Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari - are out of reach for everyone at the moment.

"In the mini other championship that we all have, we were quite competitive today."