Hamilton waits on FIA verdict

Lewis Hamilton was waiting to learn today whether his third place finish at the Australian Grand Prix would be upheld after being asked to appear before FIA race stewards to clarify the incident that saw him passed by Jarno Trulli during a safety car period last week.

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

Trulli claimed that Hamilton had slowed down and pulled over to the side of the track, giving him no alternative but to pass, but while Toyota initially served notice of their intent to appeal, they announced yesterday that would not as they felt it would be rejected on a procedural point.

However, Hamilton and Trulli were summoned by the stewards to a hearing today to address ’a new element that had emerged regarding the incident’.

A decision was still pending two hours after the hearing and Hamilton declined to comment on the matter until it has been resolved.

“They are still trying to resolve the situation, looking more into the detail on whether the penalty for Jarno was fair. That’s all I can say on that,” said Hamilton, speaking at an FIA press conference.

“It’s just to do with information that they have. I shouldn’t be talking too much about it because it’s being resolved at the moment. We’ll have to see what happens.”