Hamilton says he made huge mistake

MOTOR SPORT FORMULA ONE:LEWIS HAMILTON yesterday claimed he is "not a liar" and that he had made "a huge mistake" in presenting misleading information to the FIA following his elevation to third place at last week's Australian Grand Prix. On Thursday he and his McLaren team were excluded from the Melbourne result, a ruling which yesterday resulted in the suspension of McLaren sporting director Dave Ryan.

Hamilton and McLaren were hit with the penalty after the FIA reopened its investigation into a late-race incident in Australia in which Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, who had received the third place trophy on the podium, appeared to have passed Hamilton on track to take third. In a stewards’ hearing after the race, Hamilton said he had not received instructions from his team during the incident and Trulli was handed a 25-second penalty promoting Hamilton and McLaren to third.

However, this week recordings of an interview Hamilton gave after the race and, more crucially, transmissions between the champion and the McLaren pit wall during the race came to light, revealing that there had been communication.

“In Melbourne I had a great race,” Hamilton said yesterday evening at the Sepang circuit ahead of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. “As soon as I got out of the car I had a TV interview and gave a good account of what happened in race. Straight after that we received the request to see the stewards and while waiting for that meeting I was instructed and misled by the team manager (Ryan) to withhold team information.

“I want to sincerely apologise to the stewards for wasting their time and making them look silly,” he added.

“I went into the meeting and I just wanted to tell the story of what happened. I was misled. That’s the way it went. I also want to say a big sorry to all the fans who believed in me. I’m not a liar, I’m not a dishonest person. I’m a team player. Every time I have been asked to do something I’ve done it. This time it was a huge mistake. I’m learning from it.”

Hamilton went on to say that he was deeply embarrassed by the events of the past few days. “This situation is the worst thing I’ve experienced in my life,” he said. “That’s why I am here. It’s right for me as a human being, as a man, to stand up and say I was wrong. It’s very, very embarrassing.”

It could yet become more embarrassing for Hamilton. Speculation has suggested that the FIA could take further action against Hamilton, ranging from race bans or perhaps exclusion from the championship, though that is unlikely. An FIA spokesman on Thursday admitted it was conceivable that further punishment could be meted out but last night no action had been taken.

McLaren’s reaction to the team’s disqualification was to yesterday suspend sporting director Ryan, a decision that team principal Martin Whitmarsh said was unavoidable.

“It became clear from discussions we had with Dave last night (Thursday) and into this morning that he was not entirely truthful in the answers he gave to the stewards so we had no alternative but to suspend him,” he said.

Hamilton was clearly distracted by the off-track events and to make the day worse was later hit with a €900 fine for speeding in the pitlane during the morning practice session.

It was a poor day on track for both Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, the champion ending the day in 11th position, with Kovalainen two places higher. It was Ferrari who set the early weekend pace with Kimi Raikkonen taking top spot with Felipe Massa second, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari were bouncing back from a disastrous opening round in Australia in which both drivers failed to finish and Raikkonen admitted the team is hopeful of better fortune in Sepang.

“We felt that the situation here could be different to Melbourne,” he said, “but it is still too early to say where we are against the opposition. What we can be sure of is that when the car runs trouble-free, we are competitive. We hope we can do a good job in now in qualifying.”

For Vettel that task will be a lot more difficult. The German was handed a 10-place grid penalty following his late-race collision with BMW’s Robert Kubica, an incident that led to the safety car period that has caused so much confusion.

The ones to watch, however, remain the Brawn GP cars of Australia winner Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, as well as the Williams of Nico Rosberg, who led the morning session. However, team principal Ross Brawn admitted that the car is not working as well in Malaysia as last weekend.