Hamilton summoned to FIA meeting

The FIA have confirmed that Lewis Hamilton has been summoned to appear before the race stewards this afternoon to clarify the incident that saw him passed by Jarno Trulli during a safety car period in Australia last week.

The Italian was handed a 25-second penalty following the incident on lap 57 at Melbourne, which relegated him from third to 12th in the final classification and saw Hamilton promoted from fourth to third.

Toyota duly served notice of their intent to appeal to give them more time to study the data, with Trulli claiming that Hamilton had slowed down and pulled over to the side of the track, giving him no alternative but to pass.

After evaluating their options, the team announced yesterday that they would not be going through with the appeal as they felt it would be rejected on a procedural point.

However the matter has not been put to rest as the FIA are keen to hear the World champion’s response to new details about the incident.

“A new element has emerged regarding the incident involving car number nine, Jarno Trulli and car number one, Lewis Hamilton during the second safety car period of the 2009 Australian Grand Prix,” the FIA said in a letter to McLaren.

“Under Article 179bis of the 2009 FIA International Sporting Code the driver of car number one and a team representative are required to report to the stewards at 13:00 hrs on Thursday 2nd April 2009.

“In addition to Olafur Gudmundsson and Steve Chopping who were both stewards in Australia, the FIA has designated under Article 179bis Surinder Thatti as the third steward for this hearing.”