Lewis thrown out of Melbourne results

Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix and Jarno Trulli’s third place reinstated, following a fresh stewards’ inquiry in Malaysia on Thursday.

An FIA statement said that Hamilton and McLaren had provided "deliberately misleading" evidence to the stewards in Australia.

Trulli had originally been given a 25s penalty, dropping him from third to 12th place, for illegally re-passing Hamilton during the safety car period, having dropped behind the McLaren when he ran off the road.

But Trulli always insisted that he had no option but to overtake Hamilton because the world champion had slowed dramatically and appeared to be in trouble or letting him past.

The stewards reconvened at Sepang to consider the matter further after new evidence, believed to centre on radio transmissions between Hamilton and his team, came to light.

"The stewards having considered the new elements presented to them from the 2009 Australian Formula One Grand Prix, consider that driver number one Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards at the hearing on Sunday 29th March 2009, a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code," said a stewards' statement.

"Under Article 158 of the International Sporting Code, the driver Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes are excluded from the race classification for the 2009 Australian Grand Prix and the classification is amended accordingly."



http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=45424&PO=45424