Lewis & McLaren unhappy with stewards & Massa

Sunday 12th October 2008

McLaren and Lewis Hamilton have reacted with a mixture of anger and bewilderment to the decision of the stewards to penalise the Englishman for his move at the start of the Japanese GP.

While Hamilton acknowledged that he had comitted a mistake after the race, he has also questioned whether it was right for the stewards to mete out a drive-through penalty against him.

"My personal disappointment is the start and the way I'm treated," he was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"Everyone went wide [at the start] but for some reason I got a penalty for that. I can't understand that."

His sentiments were echoed by team boss Ron Dennis, who expressed "surprise" at the ruling.

"We were a bit surprised that Lewis was given a penalty in respect of the first corner incident, simply because we've all seen similar first corner incidents that triggered no such penalty," he told ITV.

"Drivers miss braking points, they run wide; these things happen. Any experienced motor racing person sees it as a racing incident."

While Felipe Massa was punished with a drive-through penalty after crashing into Hamilton, the Brazilian later claimed that he had been "pushed" on to the grass by his World Championship rival. The claim was treated with disdain by a scornful Dennis.

"Where? Why don't you just watch the television?" he retorted to Autosport. "You don't need to ask me or anybody, you just look at the television."

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Your Comments

alvinkassim

"I can't wait to see Lewis win the championship even though the racist FIA and cheaters FIArrari tried every dirty trick in the book to deny him. That day will come nomatter what they try because God is still around."

b19uks

"I believe hamilton is like Massa was when he used to drive for sauber petronas. disaster on wheels. Only he is a lot faster. that is the only difference. a very stupid move he made in japan, the same in belgium, the overtake in france of vettel and lets not forget the pitlane incident in canada. i have been watching formula one for a long time. i might be wrong but i can't remember anyone being that stupid in the pitlane. this is his second year. he has made more mistakes this year then he did last year. i believe Massa deserves to win this year on the ground that he has improved more and has made less mistakes then hamilton. kubica would be good as well. "

MICHAEL12

"I agree with map100, if Hamiltons car was red and was named Ferrari he wouln't have had any penalties and he would have already been Twice World Champion."

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