Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have been disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix after stewards decided that Hamilton had deliberately misled them when providing evidence about an incident that saw him passed by Jarno Trulli during a safety car period.
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.
But both drivers were called before the stewards in Sepang today to address new evidence on the incident.
Following the hearing, the stewards decided to reinstate Trulli's third place and to sanction Hamilton and McLaren by excluding them from the race classification.
They explained their decision in a statement, which read: 'The stewards having considered the new elements presented to them from the 2009 Australian Formula One Grand Prix, consider that driver No 1 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 29 March 2009, a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.
'Under Article 158 of the International Sporting Code the driver No 1 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.'
In re-opening the investigation, stewards at a further hearing in Malaysia ahead of Sunday's race at the Sepang circuit have taken the appropriate sanction against Hamilton they felt was necessary.
However, the situation contravenes the International Sporting Code and is viewed as so grave that the FIA have it within their power to pursue the matter further.
A FIA spokesperson confirmed: 'Given the seriousness of this matter, we cannot rule out further action at this stage.'
As Hamilton has been excluded from the race at Melbourne's Albert Park, should motor sport's world governing body take up the case, only two additional punishments are open to them.
One would be to suspend Hamilton from a further race or races, or alternatively they could disqualify him from the championship altogether.
