Hamilton, Webber, Vettel meet stewards

Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are meeting the race stewards at the Chinese Grand Prix to discuss the Fuji safety car controversy

As autosport.com revealed yesterday, the FIA has begun looking into whether or not Hamilton broke the rules by accelerating and decelerating too much behind the safety car at Fuji - and in doing so caused the crash between Vettel and Webber.

The fresh investigation was sparked after Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost brought to light a Youtube video of the incident that shows Hamilton slowing down off the racing line as the cars lap behind the safety car.

And with the stewards now meeting with the drivers to discuss the matter, Renault's Heikki Kovalainen has joined the criticisms of Hamilton's driving.

Speaking to reporters in Shanghai he said he believes Hamilton had not acted correctly in the way he was driving in Japan.

"I don't know what they are going to do," he said about the stewards hearing. "I haven't got any more to say about the situation; I don't want to get involved too much.

"Obviously it looks like he has done something that was, I think, not acceptable. Webber has been quite outspoken about it, and all I have to say is that when I was behind Hamilton, he was also doing a little bit of accelerating and slowing down, and that moment I didn't inform my team about anything because I didn't think it was anything too dangerous, and I was able to cope with it."

Kovalainen is at the centre of fresh intrigue about what was going on behind the safety car, amid reports that Renault advised him to stay well back of Hamilton on advice from FIA race director Charlie Whiting.

When asked about why that happened, Kovalainen said: "Honestly, you would need to ask Charlie [Whiting] from the FIA. I don't know why.

"I was surprised to hear from my team that I had a warning from the FIA to not get too close to Lewis. I was surprised, because I didn't feel I was causing any danger to anyone.

"Of course when the restart is about to happen I am going to be there every time because I want to try to make a move as soon as I can, and I was trying to be as close as possible to him. But I don't know why no-one said anything to Lewis."