Lewis Hamilton disqualified from Australian grand prix results

Lewis Hamilton - Australian grand prix 2009

Stewards on Thursday declared that Lewis Hamilton and McLaren offered "deliberately misleading" evidence that resulted in Jarno Trulli losing his podium in a post-race inquiry last Sunday in Australia.

The reconvened investigation in Malaysia resulted in Hamilton, the reigning world champion, being excluded from the results of the 2009 season opener.

The FIA reopened the case after a "new element" - believed to be radio traffic between the McLaren driver and his pitwall at the time of the incident - came to light.

A statement issued by the stewards on Thursday evening confirmed that 24-year-old Hamilton and his team "acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards".

The stewards said the conduct was in breach of the International Sporting Code.

Toyota's Trulli, originally demoted to twelfth place having stood on the Albert Park podium, has had his third place result reinstated.

Source: GMM

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sjc

Not suprising though, i suppose they had to even it out as ferrari didnt finsh at all!!!!!!!!!!!

April 2, 2009 10:20 am

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mmr66

not fair at all

April 2, 2009 10:27 am

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Bristol411S3

Hang on, it's April 2nd now isn't it? I don't understand this at all.

April 2, 2009 10:34 am

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genie

Good to see McLaren fans still think its 2008. F1 is bigger than McLaren vs Ferrari, its Brawn vs BMW vs Toyota now. If McLaren and Ferrari want to still matter, they are going to have to improve their game. And cheating your way there isn't going to do it.

April 2, 2009 10:35 am

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1 reply

m4rtins

So last year he is penalised for overtaking illegally and not letting the passed driver back through. Now he either legally, or illegally overtakes, lets the driver back through regardless of the legality and still gets punished. Formula 1 has gone mad, and deserves only to fail. Racing is dead (see Vettel penalised unnecessarily because Kubica did not give enough room), might as well have a virtual playstation race with the result decided in court. Here you go Max, cost reduction - 22 playstations and a wireless internet connection.

April 2, 2009 10:57 am

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amade.ch

but what did he actually do wrong? i don't understand this.

April 2, 2009 10:46 am

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5 replies

AndersDK

FIA did everything they could to stop McLaren from winning the championship last year and now they start again.....If the sport will not be fair I will not support F1 in the future.

April 2, 2009 10:59 am

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Pentium

all McLaren fans say that when they did something wrong, I don't know why!! Anyway, they deserve that, I stopped supporting McLaren two years ago....Team Of Spies...

April 2, 2009 11:24 am

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Zero

We don't know exactly, but it has something to do with pit to car communications and some communication between the FIA and Hamilton, in which Hamilton is alleged to have lied about something or other. This is probably quite serious though if he has been totally disqualified. And, this has nothing to do with McLaren-Ferrari battle by any means. The FIA is above that. Just an extra bit here, but I was dissappointed in Ferrari this race. It seemed like they had the perfect strategy; get the soft tires out of the way, bank on a safety car, and then take decent places when everyone else is fumbling around with the soft tyres. Once again though, reliability and poor driving intervened. If they want to to well, they need to sort their car out so it can last and also get some disipline into Raikonnen. Then they will do well. And I must also say, well done to Hamilton, who bounced back after a poor qualifying session.

April 2, 2009 12:17 pm

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Xanavi23

Pentium...you think Ferrari has never spied?

April 2, 2009 1:34 pm

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Pentium

I know how the game meant to be played, but just accepting to know all this information in a great sport like F1 is not something you can forget easily..even if it was a spy from Ferrari but he was spying for them!! anyway, hope that 2009 season will fair and great to watch, and it's not a good start to use this methods to go to podium...

April 3, 2009 4:49 pm

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Alex_011

Every team is a team of spies, in many different terms of that word...in F1...as in the car industry...the fact of the matter is who is caught and who's not...

April 2, 2009 11:43 am

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Targa_Florio

I really don't get it: Trulli ran off which means Hamilton pass him; Hamilton politely let him pass again. They are both responsible, so if there is anything wrong in that, simply swap the results i.e. Hamilton 3rd and Trulli 4th; if there is nothing wrong, keep Trulli 3rd and Hamilton 4th...

April 2, 2009 11:57 am

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RedBaron

Give him a break.he cant help he is a spoilt brat who drives for a team who thinks everyone is out to get them.he lied to get extra points!that is cheating!

April 2, 2009 12:04 pm

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genie

Here is what happened. Trulli ran of the track after hitting debris from the Vettel/Kubica incident, and Hamilton passed. So far, all good. Then, McLaren told Hamilton over the radio to let Trulli pass, which is incorrect but whatever. Hamilton slows down and Trulli passes, thinking Hamilton is having mechanical problems. Next, McLaren appeal to race stewards saying Trulli overtook. Hamilton at first tells stewards that he let Trulli past but then changes tune and says Trulli overtook. Which is a lie. Misleading the race stewards is a punishable offence, and the penalty is disqualification. Thats why Hamilton got disqualified. If Hamilton had told the stewards the whole time he let Trulli pass on false info from his team, he would have kept fourth. If he not let Trulli past he would have got third. Instead, both Hamilton and McLaren made a hash of it all, and now get a big fat zip.

April 2, 2009 12:05 pm

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2 replies

Targa_Florio

Oh ok, I didn't have all details.

April 2, 2009 12:08 pm

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steelerfan2009

you explained it better than this article did,they have the actual radio conversation on youtube if anyone wants to hear it.

April 2, 2009 5:55 pm

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Targa_Florio

Also I don't know if you've noticed how pointless was the safety car on first time: by the time it controlled the race (after all cars unlaped at FULL SPEED), the Williams and its pieces were already out of the track... The goal of the safety car is to control F1's speed to allow marshalls to work safely, so if they let 18 out of 19 cars unlap themselves at full speed (which can take a few laps), it has no more value than double yellow flags.

April 2, 2009 12:07 pm

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MAKK55

They are really making it tough for me to remain a Formula One fan! A decision handed down 4 days AFTER the race? FOR THIS? These are the EXACT type of shananigans that make his wins that much more sweeter! Plenty of races to go and there's rain in the forecast for Malaysia!

April 2, 2009 12:46 pm

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devperson

Just warms your heart doesn't it? :) :) :)

April 2, 2009 1:16 pm

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UsualSuspect

I really don't know what to say...great driving Lewis...from 18th to 4th to 3rd to disqualification, Wow?? I'm with AndersDK, "If the sport will not be fair I will not support F1 in the future."

April 2, 2009 1:28 pm

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Beetle

Its all a fix

April 2, 2009 2:57 pm

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steelerfan2009

im begining to not like f1 way to much drama and they dont seem to have there sh#t together. rules keep changeing,they cant make up there mind about things. and this dosent make any sense,and im glad im not the only one this dosent make sense to.

April 2, 2009 4:08 pm

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sub39h

which do you reckon is more fixed? professional wrestling, or this?

April 2, 2009 5:06 pm

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1 reply

Beetle

Behind closed doors anything can happen just look at football and horse racing.

April 2, 2009 5:48 pm

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joelynn

politics is ruining the sport.... imagine if football allowed every move to be analysed and investigated and then stripped and awarded goals for weeks after each match... it'd be chaos... just let the decisions in the race count and nothing after

April 2, 2009 6:28 pm

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1 reply

scratchy996

no , any sport should be about fair play. modern football should have a camera on every player and penalize any unfair actions with instant electric shocks, huge fines and disqualification (i would even add castration , but that's just me ). bring the sport back in sports.

April 2, 2009 7:30 pm

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Lamborghini

Why cant Bernie Ecclestone just die.... It is so obvious that he is a biased prick, who does everything to put Ferrari at advantage. I mean I dont remember any serious rule changes, or after race decisions influencing the results of races, when Ferrari was winning all of them. I must say that I like the fact that the races are now busier with more overtakings, but if it stays like this I will really quit supporting F1. Also, check the original FIA article,http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/4/9115.html to me it really seems that the whole thing was not intended by the team but it was just a mistake.

April 2, 2009 10:44 pm

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