Lewis Hamilton will receive no penalty for his driving in last weekend's Japanese GP.
Championship leader let off the hook for Japanese GP tactics
Formula One's FIA governing body has cleared Lewis Hamilton of dangerous driving in last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
The 22-year-old championship leader was called by race stewards following Friday practice at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix to give his account of the incident at Fuji, which resulted in the retirements of Red Bull's Mark Webber and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton eventually scored his fourth win of the season in the wet race, with his championship lead over team-mate Fernando Alonso extended to 12 points following the latter's accident on lap 42.
With the safety car deployed following Alonso's shunt, Webber and Vettel - placed second and third behind Hamilton - collided, with the lion's share of the blame initially aimed at the 20-year-old German.
Footage
The build up to the incident was missed by television cameras; however, the emergence of footage filmed from a grandstand and posted on the YouTube website prompted the stewards' latest investigation.
The footage - since removed from the site - was brought to the attention of the FIA by Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost and shows race leader Hamilton pulling to the right-hand side of the track behind the safety car and slowing considerably.
Webber was subsequently forced to slow - with the following Vettel then driving straight into the back of the Australian's car.
Following an initial investigation, Vettel was handed a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's race and Hamilton had been facing the prospect of similar sanction - or even the loss of the 10 points he picked up for his victory in Japan.
However, after Hamilton, Webber and Vettel were called by stewards to explain the incident on Friday, the latter had his own penalty reduced to a reprimand.
Renewed hope
And the decision not to penalise Hamilton sees him heading into the weekend with renewed hope of becoming Formula One's first rookie world champion on Sunday.
"I am honestly happy with the result and looking forward to the weekend and approach tomorrow and just want to try to win the race," Hamilton said after being cleared.
"It was just really tough today. Now I am relaxed. I can really focus and get a good night's sleep and come back tomorrow and enjoy the weekend."
Earlier, a weary Hamilton claimed that the latest in a series of machinations which have characterised his debut season had even given him cause to question his Formula One future.
"It's just a shame for the sport and if this is the way it's going to keep going then it's probably not somewhere I really want to be," he said.
Hamilton was fourth quickest in both of Friday's sessions for Sunday's race, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen - 17 points behind him in the title race - fastest overall.
