Trulli: "McLaren Took a Joke of FIA"

Jarno Trulli backed FIA's actions against McLaren for their lying to the race stewards during the Australian Grand Prix. The Italian driver was personally involved in the matter, as the race incident between him and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was what triggered the entire controversy after the Melbourne race.

The Toyota driver passed Hamilton under safety car, but later argued before the Aussie stewards that he had no other choice as Hamilton slowed down intentionally. When confronted with this version, both the British driver and McLaren's sporting director Dave Ryan denied having deliberately let Trulli pass. The Italian was therefore handed a 25-second penalty, demoting him from 3rd to 12th place.

Only days later, a new set of evidence – radio conversation between Hamilton and his team during the race – showed the McLaren driver was told to let Trulli pass. As a result, the Toyota driver was given his podium back, while Hamilton was disqualified from the race. Further on, McLaren were summoned to appear before the World Motor Sport Council to explain their actions in the “lying saga”.

“My feeling is that the FIA took such a strong decision because they felt that someone was taking a joke of them at the end of the day, and they want to show to everyone that the FIA is just like a judge. Go in front of the judge and you have to be honest and tell the truth. You might get away with it once, but it's better not to do it. You take a lot of risk. This is what happened, basically,” said Trulli in an exclusive interview with British publication Autosport.

While already admitting to their wrongdoings, McLaren are now at the mercy of the FIA. As revealed by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone earlier this month, the Woking-based team are now facing a race ban, considering their recent history in terms of sporting misconduct (the spy-gate in 2007).