Lewis Hamilton's 'absolutely shocking' Malaysian Grand Prix weekend took a turn for the worse after the race when stewards handed him a retrospective drive-through penalty.
Hamilton was accused of making 'more than one change of direction to defend a position', and in accordance with the FIA rules had 20 seconds added to his elapsed time.
It meant the McLaren star, who had finished seventh at the end of a difficult race at the Sepang circuit, dropped to eighth, with Kamui Kobayashi in his Sauber the beneficiary as he moved up a position.
Hamilton's problems during the race saw him hit from behind by old rival Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari as the Spaniard moved out to overtake.
Alonso, however, ran into the right-rear tyre of Hamilton's car, partly damaging the rear floor in the process, whilst at the same time breaking the left end of his own front wing.
For causing a collision, the stewards also handed Alonso the same punishment as Hamilton, a 20-second retrospective drive-through penalty.
Unlike Hamilton, however, the penalty had no effect on his sixth- placed position in the final classification.
'I knew I was going to get a penalty. I'm not surprised,' Hamilton said. 'I was in with the stewards, so I anticipated it. I always try to assume the worst-case scenario.
'It's only one spot, and it's not really made me feel any worse than how the weekend has gone anyway.'
As for the fact Alonso did not lose a position, Hamilton added: 'Then he's not had a penalty.'
Asked whether it felt fair, Hamilton said: 'It's racing. I'm not going to argue or disagree with the penalty.
'From my side I'm not allowed to move more than once. Do I class it as dangerous? No, but that's the rule. Twenty seconds is not such a bad penalty for it.
'As for Fernando, he hit me, he got a 20-second penalty, but it didn't really do anything for him. It doesn't exactly work out as a penalty, but again, that's racing.'
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh described the stewards' decision as 'disappointing and surprising.'
He added: 'I'm not a steward. They make those sort of decisions and that's how it is, but a penalty to both drivers is fairly harsh.
'For Lewis a number of things have happened this weekend, but he is strong and will take heart from other positive factors.
'The underlying fact is he was very close to being on pole, and in the race was able to match the performance of Sebastian (Vettel).
'He is the marker you either have to match or beat, so those are the positives.
'The result and the mess around it is the disappointment. That's motor racing, and it won't be the last (disappointment) in his career.
'He was obviously very disappointed at the end of the race, but if you see him now he is smiling and has recovered.
'He'll be further recovered tomorrow. He knows we're going to try hard to win in China and he'll have his energy focused on that.
'I don't think he is going to be troubled by what happened today.'
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