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McLaren Fires Sporting Director Dave Ryan

After Lewis Hamilton got disqualified following the Australian GP incident, the case makes a new victim: McLaren's sporting director Dave Ryan. According to GMM news agency, Ryan left the Sepang circuit on Friday, a matter that somehow confirms recent rumors claiming the sporting director may leave the Formula One team.

Wondering what's the reason for the departure? It appears that Dave Ryan is the one responsible for Lewis Hamilton being disqualified, despite the fact that details are pretty scarce at this point. Nevertheless, we do know both his name and Hamilton's were mentioned in the official papers handed by stewards to the FIA, with officials claiming the two lied about the Australian incident.

McLaren officials refused to comment the report, but communications director Matt Bishop told BBC Sport he can't confirm "anything" at this moment, a thing that could give us a hint there might be some truth behind these words. A public statement is expected to be issued by Martin Whitmarsh during the Malaysian press conference.

The whole saga started last weekend during the Australian Grand Prix when Jarno Trulli overtook Lewis Hamilton under Safety Car. After finishing third in the race, Trulli was handed a 25-second penalty, being demoted to twelfth place. After a further investigation by both the FIA and the stewards, Jarno Trulli regained his podium back, while Lewis Hamilton was completely disqualified from the race.

"Hamilton deliberately misled us", stewards said in a statement for the press.

What's interesting is that Toyota repeatedly said it won't appeal the decision as it could be easily rejected since we were dealing with a rule infringement.

“Having considered recent judgments of the International Court of Appeal and referring to the Sporting Code it is believed that any appeal will be rejected on a procedural point such as that defined under article 152, paragraph 5 of the Sporting Code. Based on this Toyota Motorsport has decided that it would serve no benefit to pursue this course of action,” said the statement issued by Toyota.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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