Lewis Hamilton believes his drive through penalty in the Japanese Grand Prix was unfair when compared to Felipe Massa’s identical reprimand for punting him into a spin on the second lap.
Hamilton caught the attention of the stewards almost immediately after making a poor start and out-braking himself into the first corner trying to overtake Kimi Raikkonen. That flat-spotted his tyres and dropped him to sixth behind Massa.
The McLaren driver then dived up the inside of his Brazilian rival at the chicane only for Massa, who ran wide at the corner entry, to come back at him and punt him into a spin.
Both drivers received drive through penalties for their respective actions which effectively wrote off their chances of a decent points haul, though Massa managed to salvage eighth.
When asked by ITV sport if he felt it was fair that both he and Massa were dealt drive-through penalties, Hamilton said: “We both got the same penalty, but I didn’t hit anyone.”
Hamilton acknowledges that his startline move was risky, but is adamant that it won’t effect his chances of winning the world championship.
“Of course, you can always look back and wish you did something different. I made a mistake and you pay for it.”
“I don’t think it makes any difference, I lost only one point which I guess is damage limitation. We just have to make sure we win the next two races.”
