German Grand Prix: Jenson Button hospitalised with eye complaint; red flags to replace yellow in qualifying

The McLaren Honda driver was sent to hospital by the circuit medical centre at the Hockenheimring after complaining of an eye irritation.

Baden-Wurttemberg: Briton Jenson Button was transferred to hospital in Mannheim after complaining of eye problems during Friday afternoon`s second practice session for this weekend`s German Grand Prix.

The 2009 world champion, who drives for the McLaren Honda team, was sent to hospital by the circuit medical centre at the Hockenheimring after complaining of an eye irritation.

A team spokesman said: "Jenson complained of an eye irritation during FP2 and he has gone to Mannheim hospital to have a precautionary check-up."

The team`s reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who replaced two-time champion Fernando Alonso at the Belgian Grand Prix in April, is on stand-by.

Meanwhile, Formula One`s race director Charlie Whiting said that red flags will replace waved double yellows in the event of hazardous incidents in qualifying.

Whiting made this newly-revised position clear following last weekend`s controversy surrounding Nico Rosberg`s pole position lap at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The German drove through a waved double yellow zone and only slowed by one-tenth of a second.

The decision means that all drivers on track at the time of an incident that led to a red flag would have to stop.

"That`s what I intend to do in the future, just to remove any discussion about whether a driver slowed down or not," Whiting told reporters at the German Grand Prix.

"I think most drivers decided to call it a day and stop their attempt at qualifying," he added, referring to the incident at the Hungaroring last Saturday.

"But in Nico`s defence, he had only one yellow sector to go through, and that was a short one -- whereas the other drivers had two yellow sectors to go through.

"So there is a difference. I just don`t want to get into these discussions where you need to try and decide whether a driver has slowed down enough.

"If you apply the double waved yellow flag rule absolutely to the letter it says you must be prepared to stop."

Stewards at the Hungarian Grand Prix sent the wrong message aby failing to penalise Rosberg, his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton had claimed.