Hamilton penalised ten places for France

Sunday 8th June 2008

Lewis Hamilton has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the French GP after failing to pay attention to a red light in the pit lane in Sunday's Canadian race.

The punishment was handed out by FIA race stewards after they reviewed the incident in which Hamilton ran into the back of Raikkonen as the Ferrari driver was observing a red light in the pit lane on lap 18 of the race, which was eventually won by Robert Kubica.

Nico Rosberg of Williams was given the same 10-place drop on the grid after he ran into the back of Hamilton's McLaren Mercedes in the same incident.

Hamilton trails BMW's Kubica by four points in the Drivers' standings and will now face an even stiffer battle for points at Magny-Cours in two weeks' time.

Speaking about the accident Hamilton said: "Before my pit stop, everything looked on course for the perfect result: we were so quick, we were breezing it in fact. But it wasn't a great pit stop - and, as I exited the box, I saw two cars jostling for position ahead of me in the pit lane.

"Obviously, I didn't want to get involved in their tussle, and was trying not to do so, and then all of a sudden they stopped. And by the time they'd come to a halt, it was too late for me to avoid them.

"We'd looked so strong for the whole weekend though, so at least we can leave Montreal confident that we have a package that will enable us to fight for the World Championship from here on in."

The 23-year-old also graciously accepted the stewards punishment for the accident. "It's just unfortunate when stuff like this happens, but I have no argument with the stewards," he said.

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