McLaren boss Ron Dennis admitted he was "mystified" as to why Lewis Hamilton received a drive-through penalty after an incident at the first corner of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Hamilton, starting from pole, was overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen off the start line and then braked heavily into turn 1, causing the Ferrari driver and McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen to run wide.
Race stewards imposed a drive-through penalty on the 23-year-old Briton on lap 17, which saw the world championship leader drop down the order.
He eventually recorded a 12th-place finish, his second-worst result of the season.
"We're still a bit mystified as to why Lewis got a penalty," Dennis said after the race, which was won by Renault's Fernando Alonso.
"It's just a racing incident. I can remember lots of first corners like that, (with) cars running wide and on cold tyres. Lewis didn't do anything deliberately, he was just fighting.
"Any experienced motor racing person sees it as a racing incident. First corner incidents like that are absolutely common-place 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. That's what happens."
Hamilton was spun by chief title rival Felipe Massa at turn 11 on the second lap of the race, the Ferrari driver recovering from his own poor start when he ran wide at the first turn.
Dennis was critical of the Brazilian, adding that he felt Massa's own drive-through penalty was appropriate.
"Massa was off the road and he drove back on into the side of Lewis, it's as simple as that. It was plain for everybody to see," Dennis said.
"Felipe made a huge mistake and ran completely wide, and Lewis was on the inside. He was 100 percent on the circuit all of the time."
Hamilton's championship lead with two races left has been cut to five points after Massa recovered to finish eighth, which became seventh after Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais was hit with a 25-second post-race penalty.
