Hamilton to Appear Alone before the FIA

It appears McLaren's former sporting director Dave Ryan will not be obliged to appear before FIA's World Motor Sport Council on April 29th. Ryan parted ways with the Woking based team only days after the lie-gate hit the headlines earlier this month and is therefore out of FIA's jurisdiction for the aforementioned meeting.

“The FIA has jurisdiction only over its licence holders and their employees. We cannot compel Dave Ryan to attend or give evidence if he feels unwilling to do so. We have yet to hear precisely who will be representing the McLaren team in attending the meeting,” a FIA source allegedly told British newspaper The Guardian.

Along with Hamilton, Ryan lied to the Australian stewards in the post-race investigation regarding the Hamilton-Trulli incident in the dying laps of the Melbourne race. Although McLaren have clearly instructed Hamilton to let Trulli pass under safety car, Ryan did not admit it when later confronted by the stewards.

Appearing before the media ahead of the Malaysian GP last week, Hamilton said all he did was to listen to Ryan through this whole scandal. He insisted he was not a liar and expressed his disappointment over such allegations.

Although he was regarded as a key member in the scandal, Ryan's presence at the aforementioned hearing would have probably not made any difference. McLaren and Hamilton already admitted to their wrongdoings and are now, just like Sir Jackie Stewart recently put it, “at FIA's mercy” waiting for the punishment.

Earlier this week, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone revealed McLaren are looking at race bans if found guilty, considering they are not at their first sporting misconduct in F1.