Putting a brave face on things as his team left a Grand Prix venue empty-handed for the second time this season, Ron Dennis defended the actions of Lewis Hamilton in the first corner of the Japanese Grand Prix, claiming that the youngster was merely doing his job.

"Any experienced motor-racing person sees it as a racing incident," the McLaren boss told reporters last night. "First-corner incidents like that are absolutely commonplace in grand-prix racing. Everybody is on tyres that haven't got up to full operating temperature at that point and if people leave their braking late, that's what happens."

In a few split seconds all the talk of not taking unnecessary risks went out the window, as Hamilton lost ground in the first corner, having pushed too hard and left his braking too late, subsequently picking up a drive-thru penalty for good measure. There was further misery when the Englishman was involved in an incident with Felipe Massa which dropped him to last position

"It's all the benefit of hindsight," said Dennis. "Yes, he could have been a bit more mindful of the situation, but I'm sure he was pretty frustrated with himself for screwing up the first corner. I think the thing that really got to him was the penalty, it really did. He was bitterly complaining about it in the car. Without the penalty, we would have still got points, that's for sure.

"Lewis is a racing driver," he continued. "That's what makes him the driver he is. He is going to fight for positions at every opportunity. You are not going to stop him doing that. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have been nice if he had been a little bit more prudent in the first corner.

"Some of the things he does leave us in awe of him," he admitted. "The simple fact is he is a great driver and we are going to fight for the World Championship, but it's sometimes a bit of an uphill struggle."