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Oct.15 (GMM) Formula One Administration, headed by Bernie Ecclestone, has released multiple high-quality replays of the incidents that led to controversial stewards penalties at last weekend's Japanese grand prix.

Posted on f1.com, the sport's official website acknowledged that the incidents, all involving championship contenders Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, have "received a great deal of attention".

In the package is multiple unseen angles - including cockpit views - of the first corner incident that cost Hamilton a drive-through penalty, the crash with Hamilton that cost Ferrari's Massa a similar sanction, and the collision with Sebastien Bourdais that handed Massa an extra championship point in a post-race investigation.

The Guardian quotes former triple world champion and respected analyst Niki Lauda as saying: "The worrying thing for me is that the stewards are really getting too involved in trying to control what the drivers are doing."

Most seasoned commentators believe Massa was right to suffer a penalty for his Hamilton collision, but Lauda sides with those who question Hamilton's drive-through for pushing Kimi Raikkonen wide in the run to the first corner.

"All Lewis was doing was braking late into a corner, which he is perfectly entitled to do," the Austrian said.

"The stewards should only start getting involved when something really serious occurs."

Also highly controversial was Bourdais' penalty, after the Frenchman collided with Massa as he exited the pits, causing the Ferrari to spin.

"Bourdais was on the inside, Massa on the outside, and if (Massa) had given him two centimetres more space, they both would have effortlessly made the corner," said Bourdais' team boss Gerhard Berger, according to racefreaks.nl.

He added: "It is a matter of fact that nothing particularly happened to either of them. Two cars touching each other is nothing peculiar in the world of racing."

Written: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:21:44