Motor racing-Hamilton escapes sanction after tyre error

Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton escaped sanction for Sunday's
title-deciding Brazilian Grand Prix after his McLaren team broke the tyre rules in Friday's free practice.
However, the McLaren team were fined 15,000 euros ($21,420) and ordered to surrender a set of wet tyres they had inadvertently used.
Hamilton, the 22-year-old rookie who could become Formula One's youngest champion in Sunday's season-ending race, was summoned to see stewards at Interlagos.
Honda's Briton Jenson Button and Super Aguri's Japanese driver Takuma Sato were also called for using two sets of wet-weather tyres during the rainy first session when only one
was allowed.
The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA)announced the fine in a statement while adding that stewards had determined that the drivers and teams had gained no benefit from the breach.
"To avoid the possibility that any of the three teams or their drivers could derive any benefit during the remainder of the event from having available to them part-worn wet tyres...each team will forthwith voluntarily surrender those tyres to the FIA technical assistant," the statement said.
Hamilton, who leads double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso by four points with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen a further three behind, said it had been a simple mistake.
"We did a very, very slow out lap on wet tyres, we put another set of extreme wets on, we came in and went out again on another set (of wets)," he said.
"It's an easy mistake to make, a couple of other teams have done it. We haven't gained anything by it, we didn't do it intentionally and there was no benefit."