Lewis Hamilton disqualified from Australian GP
Crash.net said: Defending Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from last weekend's Australian Grand Prix after the FIA ruled he and his McLaren-Mercedes team had provided 'deliberately misleading' information to race stewards in Melbourne – meaning Jarno Trulli has been re-instated in third place.
Here's the low down:
Sunday, Melbourne
The safety car is deployed three laps from the end of the Australian Grand Prix after crashes for Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber). Jarno Trulli (Toyota), in third place, briefly runs off the track; Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) moves past him to take third.
McLaren tell Hamilton twice to let Trulli retake the place because of concerns that Hamilton could be penalised for overtaking under a safety car. Hamilton obeys his team, slows to let Trulli go through and they finish third and fourth.
After the race, Hamilton gives an interview in which he confirms that he was told by his team to let Trulli through. The stewards decide to investigate and ask Hamilton whether he was told by his team to let Trulli past. Hamilton now denies that he was told this.
The stewards punish Trulli who gets a 25-second penalty for overtaking under the safety car, which drops him to twelfth, while Hamilton is promoted to third.
Thursday, Sepang, Kuala Lumpur
The stewards reconvene to investigate further the case after discrepancies emerge in Hamilton’s account. Hamilton and Trulli are summoned; Trulli is quickly allowed to leave, while Hamilton is detained for about an hour.
The stewards decide that Hamilton and McLaren deliberately tried to mislead them in Melbourne and throw him, and McLaren, out of the race and reinstate Trulli.
Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, claims that neither McLaren nor Hamilton lied to the stewards and did nothing wrong.
The stewards release accounts of the original hearing that show that Hamilton and David Ryan, the McLaren team manager, twice denied to the stewards that an instruction had been given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to pass.
The stewards release audio files of the McLaren radio transmissions at the race, which show that Hamilton was asked twice by his team to let Trulli through.
From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6024525.ece
shenanigans 
What a bunch of crap. Is this happening because the Ferraris got no result therefore McLaren must not get a good result or because Bernie hates McLaren and loves Ferrari or because Lewis Hamilton is black?
I stopped watching last year because of the Ferrari favoritism crap and now after this I think I'm done for 2009!
As a Toyota fan I would say that it is happening because someone realized it wasn't fair to knock Trulli back. He started dead last and worked his way up to a deserving 3rd place and was penalized back to 12th or 13th, but those who still consider Toyota a "backmarker" team might not agree with me.
Even so, excluding Hamilton from the results all together does seem excessively harsh to me...why not give him a X many second penalty instead?
Cheaters never prosper, / thread
F1 is the new WWF.
ae86andkp61 wrote: As a Toyota fan I would say that it is happening because someone realized it wasn't fair to knock Trulli back. He started dead last and worked his way up to a deserving 3rd place and was penalized back to 12th or 13th,
And where did Hamilton start from?
They both worked their way all the way thru the pack!
Thou shalt not lie to the Stewards, else ye race results shall be nullified...
Note to F1 - why even bother with podium ceremonies? Stop all the pretence and let the races just be judged competitions, like drifting.
Appleseed wrote: F1 is the new WWF.
they now have a panda logo? ohhh, wraslin, WWE these days
The only thing I can say about this is that it seems disproportionately harsh considering Barrichello wrecked 3 other cars out of the race and no one said a thing... these 2 guys fought tooth and nail for every last inch. If you give Barrichello a pass... don't you need to just look the other way for all other incidence? Hell, he might as well have a snow plow mounted on that front wing for next race...
walterj wrote: The only thing I can say about this is that it seems disproportionately harsh considering Barrichello wrecked 3 other cars out of the race and no one said a thing... these 2 guys fought tooth and nail for every last inch. If you give Barrichello a pass... don't you need to just look the other way for all other incidence? Hell, he might as well have a snow plow mounted on that front wing for next race...
RB's bad start made the usual first turn antics more chaotic than usual, but it wasn't intentional and he was hit at least as much as he hit someone else.
Lying to the stewards is something different and rather more serious.
Trulli's penalty was justifiably rescinded and Vettel's penalty for racing and defending against Kubica was just plain stupid; if one deserved a penalty, they both did.
What race were you watching?
does this even matter with how the champion is crowned now? "If you're not first your last."
All this drama; sounds like F1!
Trying to mislead the FIA was a bad call on Hamilton/McLaren's part, it almost paid off with a podium but they got bit in the end. Glad to see the Trulli Scrumptious one kept his podium.
I was a bit surprised that Barrichello didn't get some kind of drive-through or post-race penalty after hitting or being hit by just about everything on track, but it did make the outcome that much more exciting, and if the Brawn car can take a licking like that and still come from behind to win, I say let 'em scrap. Other drivers are gonna think twice about pushing the issue against Rubens this year when it comes to who's got the right to the line.
Malaysia this weekend!
Scott Lear wrote: All this drama; sounds like F1!
That's the bottom line; wouldn't be the same without it!
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