Fia Could Investigate Australian GP Row

The FIA has hinted that it is likely that the motorsport governing body’s world council will make a further investigation into the incident that saw representatives of the McLaren F1 team mislead stewards during a post-race meeting on rule infringements during the Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton and the team sporting director Dave Ryan have admitted that they misled stewards over an overtaking incident during the race and the team were subsequently disqualified from the race while Ryan was suspended by his team.

Max Mosley, president of the ruling body the FIA, has now hinted that the organisation may look at further sanctions against McLaren.

‘There may be a report to the world council. If there is, I will almost certainly be one of the people there to decide what happens. Therefore it would be completely wrong for me to discuss the rights and wrongs of the situation.’

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who has faced calls for his resignation, has made it clear that his future is in the hands of Mercedes, a 40% stakeholder in McLaren, and their other investors.

Said Whitmarsh: ‘I’m not resigning this weekend. In the longer term, I can contemplate my own future. Of course it’s not self-determining. It’s for the shareholders of this team to take a view and they will have to decide what’s the best thing.

‘We’ve made a commitment to look at how we arrived in this situation and we’ve got to learn from it and do a better job. Therefore it would be wrong to rule anything out. I think I’ve got to look at what is the best way forward for this team.’

The furore erupted on Thursday after stewards reopened an inquiry from the season-opener in Australia where McLaren’s world champion Hamilton was promoted from fourth to third at the expense of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli.

Trulli was deemed to have overtaken Hamilton illegally while the safety car was deployed but the Italian told stewards that the Briton, who had earlier gone past the Toyota, had slowed to let him through.

Hamilton denied he had been told to do so but a radio conversation between him and the team during the race showed that not to be the case.

All the signs are that the FIA has accepted that Hamilton was put in a very difficult position by his team and this may mean that McLaren will be more likely to incur the penalty than their world champion driver.