Effectively, that backfired on Hamilton in the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago after being hit by Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton collected a puncture that forced him into a late retirement, whilst Rosberg went on to finish second and now has a 29-point lead over the Briton heading into this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

Those 18 points accrued by Rosberg could ultimately cost Hamilton the title, all because the stewards opted not to review an incident they would have done as a matter of course earlier in the campaign.

“The FIA have a really tough job,” said Hamilton.

“Over the last couple of years they’ve done an exceptional job on the majority of the calls.

“Their problem is always that the rules... the scenario is always different, so the same rule doesn’t always apply exactly.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to say which rule applies to what situation, so how do we move forward from that?

“Does that mean we can all now say ’okay, we can race a lot closer’ and if the guy in front is out of the race nothing’s going to happen so then we will be more relaxed towards it.

“Or does that mean if it happens again there will be a penalty?

“We’re always asking to be able to race. It’s very hard out there to manoeuvre a car at such high speeds without sometimes having contact, but there’s a fine line.”

At Spa, the stewards took no action, citing it as ’a racing incident’ despite the fact Rosberg later apologised for deliberately opting not to take avoiding action.

Jenson Button, Hamilton’s former team-mate at McLaren, believes the stewards are now simply applying the letter of the law.

“They were never going to penalise him (Rosberg) because as we all discussed about four races ago, we needed to be more lenient on drivers because we wanted more aggressive racing,” said Button.

“If it had happened four races ago, I’m sure Nico would have got penalised because that sort of incident always got penalised.

“But these days, in the last few races, it has been viewed that more aggressive racing is better for the sport, so you let things go a little bit more.

“We all pushed for more aggressive racing and I’m sure you (the media) all wanted the same thing. You can’t have it both ways.”

Williams’ Felipe Massa, meanwhile, was left in do doubt the stewards should have acted.

“What I saw in the last race was not so correct from Nico, to be honest,” said Massa.

“I don’t understand why they (the stewards) didn’t give him a penalty because it was impossible to pass Lewis at that place (Les Combes). He needed to brake.

“He didn’t brake, they touched, Nico was behind, so Nico destroyed Lewis’ race.

“I don’t understand why the FIA, the stewards, didn’t give him a penalty.”