McLaren endorse Hamilton's approach

Hamilton had talked in the build-up to the event in Fuji of taking a no-risk approach to the race, with his sole focus being on winning the championship rather than crossing the finishing-line first.

However, he saw his title lead cut by two points after being punished for sliding wide at the first corner and then, two laps later, getting tapped into a spin by Felipe Massa.

Although Hamilton could have avoided trouble by playing it safe at the first corner rather than trying to wrest the lead from Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren are adamant that the young Briton did nothing wrong.

Team principal Ron Dennis said: "He's a racing driver. That's what makes him the driver he is. He is going to fight for positions at every opportunity and you're not going to stop him doing that.

"Of course, with the benefit of hindsight it would have been nice if he could have been a bit more prudent in the first corner but that's the benefit of hindsight. Some of the things he does you're in awe of him. How long did it take Felipe to get past the Honda? Five laps? Six laps? And Lewis just blasted past him.

"You can't just cherry-pick aspects of drivers. The simple fact is he is a great driver, we're going to fight for the world championship but it's sometimes an uphill struggle."

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh added: "It's motor-racing. You drive hard and it was a good start off the line by Kimi. Lewis was there to try and see what he could do. He braked late into that corner - that's what motor-racing is about and unfortunately it didn't work out today for him."

Dennis felt that the penalty handed down on Hamilton for the first corner, where it was judged he had forced Raikkonen off the track, was harsh.

"Any experienced motor-racing person sees it as a racing incident. First corner incidents like that are absolutely commonplace in Grand Prix racing. There's nothing unusual about it.

"Everybody's on tyres that haven't got up to full operating temperature and people leave their braking late and that's what happens. There was no intent to what goes on in these corners, because most of the time when people make those sorts of mistakes, they are the ones that are penalised."

And he does not accept Massa's version of events about the Brazilian's collision with Hamilton, where the Ferrari driver claims he was forced wide onto the gravel before colliding with the McLaren.

"Everybody saw the same TV images that I saw," said Dennis. "He was off the road and he drove back on into the side of Lewis. It's as simple as that and it's there for everyone to see."

He added: "Felipe made a huge mistake going in, he ran completely wide and Lewis went on the inside and was 100% on the circuit all the time."

Hamilton said about the incident that he had no doubts Massa had deliberately tried to hit him, having lost track position on the way into the chicane.

"He outbraked me so I didn't get past him on the way in," explained Hamilton. "I did the corner normally and he came back very aggressively and hit me. I think that was pretty much as deliberate as can be."