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Hamilton Apologized to FIA's Charlie Whiting

FIA race director Charlie Whiting revealed Lewis Hamilton apologized to him privately for lying to the Australian stewards regarding the incident between him and Jarno Trulli in the late laps of the Melbourne race. Hamilton also promised the FIA official he would never do it again.

According to an interview published by The Mirror newspaper, Whiting said he had a private conversation with the McLaren driver earlier this week and the reigning world champion finally committed to the truth. Whiting admitted the appoligies did not come as a shock to him, as he was convinced Hamilton was lying after the very first hearing in Melbourne.

Both Hamilton and McLaren’s sporting director Dave Ryan denied having deliberately allowed Trulli to pass the British driver under safety car during the last couple of laps of the Aussie GP. However, the radio conversation (between the driver and McLaren during the race) revealed to the media later on showed very clear that Hamilton was instructed from the pits to let the Italian pass him.

“He came to me and wanted to talk to me privately, and just said he wanted to apologize for everything he'd done, and he wouldn't do it again,” said Whiting to the aforementioned publication.

The FIA official said he believes Hamilton was only doing what he was told, especially during the second hearing on Thursday. Then, although the stewards played the tape with the conversation between Hamilton and his team during the race “they both got very uncomfortable, but still denied that's what had actually happened,” as reported by British tabloid News of the World.

“I was distinctly uncomfortable about Lewis's demeanour on Sunday (in Australia), and on Thursday (in Malaysia) I would say he was just doing what he was told to do. On Sunday it was completely clear that he was telling lies,” added the FIA official.
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