Having talked to all three drivers involved in the incident which resulted in Sebastian Vettel crashing into the back of Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton has escaped punishment, while Vettel's ten-place grid penalty has been replaced by a reprimand.

There were fears that Hamilton would face sanction when new footage - taken by a race fan with a mobile phone - appeared on You Tube. The footage appeared to indicate that Hamilton had slowed unnecessarily thereby causing the German Toro Rosso driver to run into the back of the Australian.

Several drivers, most notably Webber, who described Hamilton's actions as "shit", were highly critical of Hamilton's behaviour behind the safety car.

This means that going into this weekend's China GP, the penultimate round of the 2007, Hamilton maintains his twelve point lead over teammate Fernando Alonso.

In a statement the stewards said: "What has become apparent is the view clearly expressed by all drivers and team managers alike that the conditions at Fuji were exceptionally bad and worse than those previously experienced when the race starts behind the safety car

Because of these views, the stewards accept that it may be inappropriate to impose the penalty normally applied for an offence such as this."