MAGNY-COURS, France, June 22, 2008 (AFP)

Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren-Mercedes team reacted angrily Sunday to a controversial race-wrecking penalty imposed on the British driver during the French Grand Prix here.

The 23-year-old tyro had fought his way from 13th to tenth on the opening lap of the 70-lap race, but was later handed a 'drive-through' penalty for his determined efforts.

He had already been penalised 10 places on the grid for failing to stop at a pit-lane red light in the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks earlier - so the drive-through made sure he had no chance of fighting for victory or even a podium finish.

The decision also reduced the race to a processional affair won easily by Ferrari and gave the Italian team a clear advantage in both the drivers' and constructors' world championships.

Team chief Ron Dennis said the penalty was unfair because it was clear, in his view, that Hamilton gained no advantage when he cut over a chicane after passing German Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso car.

And Hamilton himself said he took that evasive action after passing Vettel in order to avoid a potentially dangerous collision on the track.

'I had quite a good start,' he explained. 'There were four people abreast in front of me so I decided to take it easy.

'But I got a few in T5 and someone fairly going into T7. I was ahead, but I lost the back end and I corrected it and went over the kerb, which I don't see as cheating.'

He was punished because the stewards believed he gained an advantage.

'So, rules are rules,' shrugged Hamilton.

'I don't think I did anything (wrong). I went into the corner believing I was ahead on the outside and couldn't turn in on the guy otherwise we would have crashed, so I took a wider line.

'Then I lost the back (of the car) on the marbles, I would have thought, and went over the kerb and continued. I don't believe I overtook him by going over the kerb. I overtook him before that and as a result I was forced wide.'

Hamilton refused to be downhearted by the latest penalties and an apparent campaign to dent his title challenge.

'I keep pushing,' he said. 'There is nothing you can do that can distract me - you can keep on giving me penalties (and) whatever you want to do, but I will keep battling and trying to come back with a result.'

When asked if he felt he was being victimised by the sport's ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA), because he drives for McLaren, he said: 'I'm not going to answer that one!'

Hamilton finally finished in 10th position and outside the points for the second race running since winning the Monaco Grand Prix - a situation that fuelled paddock theories that the sport's ruling body are deliberately taking a hard line with him and his team.

Last year, McLaren were fined a record 50 million dollars for their alleged involvement in the 'spy story' case in which it was claimed they took advantage of Ferrari technical information that was handed to them.

Looking ahead, he said: 'Silverstone? I absolutely and 100 percent aim on bouncing back there. Regardless of what's written in the papers, I will go back to the workshop and I will push with the team.

'I am going to see the engineers now, to focus on next race and hit 'em hard.'

Looking back, he said: 'I did everything I needed to do. I stayed out of trouble, drove what I thought was a fair race, and I just missed the points.

'I know that's three races (in all) without scoring points, but there's still 10 races to go. I feel cool. All good.

'Racing is racing. I'm still here now and there is nothing (they) can do to get me out of it. I am going to keep battling - there is such a long way to go.

'I don't care how far I am behind. Kimi was 13 points behind, with two races to go, last year and he still won it. If I'm 20 points behind I don't care I will still come back.'

Referring to the incident at the Nurburgring chicane, Dennis said: 'I think he was past him. I don't think he got any track position. That's my opinion; obviously it's not an opinion held by other people, but I think he was past.'

He said he had gone to see the FIA race director Charlie Whiting to argue his case.

Hamilton's latest penalty came following team-mate Finn Heikki Kovalainen's five-place penalty for allegedly blocking Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull during qualifying.

Asked about the spate of penalties, Dennis said: 'Draw your own conclusion from that. We're just focused on Silverstone. There's a lot of racing to do, we have quick and competitive cars and we'll just concentrate on Silverstone now.'