Brawn believes F1 need to have better explanations for penalty decisions

In the aftermath of Sebastian Vettel being handed a race-defining and highly controversial five-second penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix, Formula 1's director of motorsport has insisted the decisions need to be better explained in the future.

Vettel went wide in Montreal and entered the track again to try and stay in front of Lewis Hamilton - who was right on his tail - but the latter complained about how the former re-entered the track and he was penalised for an unsafe entry to the circuit.

Hamilton went onto win the race, despite Vettel reaching the chequered flag before his title rival. Brawn has reitterated his respect for the FIA stewards, who have to make these crucial decisions, but believes they need to be better explained from now on.

"I have a lot of respect for the work of the stewards and for their professionalism and I believe they would be the first to say that they would prefer not to see a race outcome decided via a penalty," Brawn said.

"At the same time, I understand how difficult it must be for fans to understand why the driver on the top step of the podium is not the one who crossed the finish line first. That's why transparency is important when it comes to explaining the decisions of the stewards, especially in such a complex sport as Formula 1.

"It is in football, where despite the arrival of VAR (Video Assistant Referee), there is still discussion as to whether a handball should be punished with a penalty or not. Therefore, it might be useful to work with the FIA on solutions that would allow the stewards to explain their decisions to the fans and to elaborate on how they reached them.

"Having said that, I would emphatically add is that there is nothing sinister about a decision like this. You might agree with it or not, but none of those who take on the role as steward each weekend has a hidden agenda and fans can be certain of that."