Lewis Hamilton changed his brake material after a failure in qualifying © Getty Images Enlarge

Christian Horner has called on the FIA to clarify why Lewis Hamilton was allowed to change brake material between qualifying and the race without having to start from the pit lane, saying it appears to have set a new precedent going forwards.

After crashing out of qualifying with brake failure, Mercedes changed Hamilton's brake material from one supplied by Brembo to a different one from Carbon Industrie. The FIA accepted that the discs were similar in weight, inertia and function and therefore permitted the change within parc ferme regulations, which exist to stop teams changing the specification of cars between qualifying and the race.

However, Hamilton said he had originally chosen the Brembo brakes because of their characteristics compared to the Carbon Industrie ones and, although Horner said Red Bull would not launch a protest, he could not understand why it was permitted.

"It is a change of car specification - if you change it like for like that is one thing, but if you change it for something that is made by a different manufactuer that has a different characteristic, as described by the driver himself as something different … it is an interesting precedent.

"We need a clarification because obviously if you can do that, then what else can you change? It will be interesting to see what is the justification of that allowance was."

Asked if it could have been permitted for safety reasons, Horner said Red Bull had encountered no problems with the brake material.

"I think we are running the same material on both of our cars as Lewis was yesterday. So it was safe on our car."

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