Sauber want safety review

Perez's car was hit by a piece of debris at Sepang that penetrated the lower part of the chassis, slicing through a protective panel and destroying the electronic control unit before bouncing back out again.

Had the box been placed somewhere else, the rookie could have paid a heavy price.

"We advised the FIA of what we found after the race and I've since sent them a couple of images of the chassis now that all the bodywork etc has been removed," said Sauber technical director James Key.

"I've suggested that we perhaps discuss it further," he told Reuters at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday.

"It's a bit of a one-off but it shows that things can happen that perhaps we didn't expect."

Flying debris has long been a major concern in Formula One, the danger highlighted by the life-threatening head injury suffered by Brazilian Felipe Massa at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix when he was hit on the helmet by a bouncing spring.

Massa was in a coma for days and missed the rest of that season.

"We have got panels on the car this year which are designed to protect the driver. It (the debris) went through that panel but obviously it (the panel) slowed the thing down, so it worked," said Key.

The Briton added that the debris had probably been lying on the track and was flipped up when a Toro Rosso running just in front of Perez ran over it.

"It could have been serious if it had hit the driver, for sure," he said.

"We have to be a bit careful that we can't knee-jerk to everything that happens... but we have to take things like this seriously and look at how you protect a driver in the future.

"This isn't something we had seen before and it needs to be looked at."