Jenson Button was handed a time penalty following today's Chinese Grand Prix.

The Briton was involved in a scrap with Pastor Maldonado for twelfth place when an over enthusiastic move at the end of the pit straight saw the McLaren clip the rear of the Lotus sending it in to a spin.

Though both continued, Maldonado returned to the pits with a puncture but on rejoining the race discovered his brakes had been damaged in the clash and as a result he had to retre.

The stewards investigated the incident post-race and deemed that Button caused a collision with Maldonado, indeed they pointed out that the Briton had admitted to the mistake.

As a result he was handed a 5s time penalty - which didn't affect his race position (13th) - and also gave him a 2 point penalty which gives him a total of 2 points for the 12 month period.

Taking to Twitter, Button wrote: "Sorry @Pastormaldo 4 getting a little over excited".

The Venezuelan, who looked set for a points finish earlier in the race but slipped down the field following two unforced errors, was philosophical about the clash.

"It was a fantastic battle with Jenson and we were passing each other very cleanly, a good, fun, exciting battle," he said. "Unfortunately, it looks like he got his braking point wrong and went into the back of me. This can easily happen when you’re fighting for position, braking off-line and using DRS, so it’s just one of those things."

Manor's Roberto Merhi was given the same penalty (5s time penalty and 2 points on his superlicence) for not staying above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU when following the safety car, a breach of Article 41.5 of the Sporting Regulations.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by SideGlance, 14/04/2015 7:25

"100% Maldonado's fault, he should NOT have been so slow that Button caught up with him !!!!! ;)

To me it appeared like multiple 'spastic' moves by both while Button was worried about Alonso overtaking - but poor Maldonado either takes himself out so much or someone 'helps' him !!

Surprised Stewards did not give Button a first time pass for this clearly 'racing incident', IMO."

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2. Posted by Hondawho?, 13/04/2015 7:19

"For heavens sake, the guy made a mistake (very rare mistake) its racing for heavens sake not the communist party!"

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3. Posted by gturner38, 13/04/2015 2:31

"It seems to me that the stewards tried their best not to impact the outcome of the race with their decision. You don't want to give drivers carte blanche to run into each other, so a penalty had to be handed down, but they made sure the time penalty didn't change the results. As for the points, what are thee chances Button does anything like this five more times in one year?"

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4. Posted by Kkiirmki, 13/04/2015 1:17

"They may have felt differently had they been fighting for the lead?"

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5. Posted by Tony B Liar, 12/04/2015 21:23

"Pastor got it absolutely right when he said "this can easily happen.... It's one of those things".
This is racing, it's competative, it's combative, so why do the stewards have to meddle?
"

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Button penalised for Maldonado clash

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