Should Jensen Button's Honda team have stopped him?

In the aftermath of the Melbourne Grand Prix, there is much discussion as to whether Honda made the right decision in telling Jensen Button to stop just yards short of the line. Button's Honda engine suffered a blow out with several corners to go whilst in a points scoring position. Although he had enough speed to carry over the finishing line, the team told him to stop because, as a non-finisher, he wouldn't suffer a 10 position grid penalty at the next race for an engine change.

Many are challenging how wise a decision this was. My guess is that we'll never know. Even if Button goes on to have a decent podium position in San Marino, we will never know whether he could have done similarly with the grid penalty. One thing I do know for sure is that there was so little time in which to make the decision that I, for one, wouldn't have even realised that a decision was there to be made. The adrenalin would have had me shouting at Jensen (as the ITV commentary team were) to get out and push!

Tags: F1, Formula One, Formula1, sport, Melbourne, Australian GP, Honda