Hamilton passed Vettel on the way to the pits, and the German stroke back when leaving his team's pit box. He made a better exit from his tire change and forced Hamilton to drive alongside him on the pit lane, with the Brit eventually having to brake late and let Vettel return to the track ahead of him.
The stewards' reprimand comes only two weekends after the same driver – Hamilton, that is – received a warning from the Malaysian stewards because of his weaving in front of Renault's Vitaly Petrov in straight line. That incident was widely discussed and criticized by the media and drivers alike for the past 2 weeks, making Ecclestone a bit angry at their moaning.
“What are they talking about? Isn't this sport all about racing? I thought Lewis had a fantastic race. He drove really well and they should stop complaining and get on with the racing. I loved watching his performance in Sepang. I bet the fans did too. It (the reaction) was a whole lot of moaning about nothing,” said Ecclestone, according to The Mirror.
Hamilton himself insisted that the weaving incident was blown way out of proportion, telling the media that he doesn't see “why everyone was fussing about it.” As for the pit lane incident with Vettel, Hamilton is yet to comment on that, while the German driver complained that his McLaren rival “was keen to touch me.”
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