Some interesting rumours .... http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/...le-in-malaysia/

Late April fools ?

 

As much as i'm smiling, F1 could really do without all this

Lets face it - one of the most obvious well known rules is you don't overtake under the safety car.

Trulli would have CERTAINLY known that and there is no way he would have tried to bag a place unless something was obviously different to Hamilton's car/driving.

As such, this should have been communicated to BOTH drivers about the situation whilst still under the saftey car.

FIA to Toyota - Why has Jarno passed Lewis?
Toyota to FIA - Jarno was under the impression Lewis had a problem
FIA to Toyota - We will investiagte now.

FIA to Mclaren - Has Hamilton got a technical problem/issue with his car that would cause him to deliberately slow?
Mclaren to FIA - No.

FIA to Toyota - Instruct Jarno to fall back behind Lewis before the safety car comes in. Lewis did not have a mechanical problem.


And there you have it - 30 seconds of communication would have saved all of this palaver.

 

Trulli's version of events after the race seemed perfectly straight-forward to me, and I expected his position to be re-instated. I was very surprised when I found he'd been struck off the standings all together! Toyota ominously withdrew their appeal today, so the report may well be true.

If he told porkie pies, then he will lose all, not just some of his points. And even a (probably just single) race ban, IMO.

 

Confirmation, and I believe Trulli's version of events.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74137

 

More http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=45422

 

What happened here?

If I understand it, Trulli was 3rd when the safety car period began.

Trulli then cocked up/left the circuit and Hamilton passed him.

Hamilton then allows Trulli back past as he has "overtaken" under the safety car.

If that's what happened, it seems fair enough Hamilton gets 3rd and Trulli 4th.

Anyone else got a better explanation?

 

That sounds like the sequence of events.

Trulli performed an illegal overtake - a contributing factor may have been LH pulling over to let him past, and subsequently lying about it.

Who knows what to do nowadays with the stewarding, penalties, fines, etc.

 

I guess we'll see in time. Everything else is speculation until then.

 

An update on the James Allen site: http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/...-with-hamilton/

 

McLaren & Hamilton stripped of 3rd place for 'deceiving the stewards'!

Silly people (oddly, McLaren & Lewis rather than the stewards on this occasion!!!)