Hamilton and McLaren's big boo boo!

NEW DELHI: What in the world is wrong with Formula 1? First, we had the controversy about illegal diffusers which, by the way, isn't resolved yet. Then, Trulli was penalised 25 seconds just minutes after he uncorked the magnum of champagne on the podium at Melbourne for overtaking under the safety car.
And now, he's been reinstated. If all that wasn't confusing enough, Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have been excluded from the results of the opening Grand Prix of 2009 in the whole melee of events.
With all that happening, one can only look on with disgust as the question of the FIA's confusion and incompetence in keeping F1 a clean sport holds solid ground.
What fans want, including us, isn't a scenario where even days after the Grand Prix is done with, no one knows whether the results will change or not.
The FIA's decision against Hamilton and McLaren may be well justified, but the fact that it comes almost a week later - when everyone's all geared up for the second round at Malaysia is a big let down.
Why it all happened is left to open debate and all of it will leave all fingers pointing towards the FIA's failed attempts at making F1 perfect time and again.
What happened - step by step.
During the final few laps of the Australian GP, the front runners were on the rapidly deteriorating softer compound tyres while Kubica was hounding them down being on the harder tyres and thus having more grip.
With Kubica closing in on Sebastian Vettel's second placed Red Bull RB5, the Pole can sense a chance of winning the race owing to his faster lap times. After a brief tussle, the BMW and the Red Bull collide, go off and end up in the barriers causing the safety car to be deployed.
Brawn GP ends up with a 1-2 behind the safety car with Jarno Trulli in third and Hamilton in fourth. Trulli's tyres go cold and he runs off track but rejoins the track soon after - during which Lewis Hamilton has moved up into third place behind Barrichello - a move that McLaren isn't sure at the time whether it complies with the FIA regulations.
To play it safe, the team ask Hamilton to let Trulli back through into third, which he does.
Immediate effects
Trulli celebrated his podium finish in fine style for Toyota after the race, but post the press conference, FIA stewards are already investigating the incident.
Based on statements from Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren and Lewis Hamilton, the stewards conclude that Jarno Trulli overtook Hamilton's car under the safety car period - a move that is not allowed in F1.
As a result, Jarno Trulli was penalised 25 seconds instead of the de rigueur stop-go penalty since the ruling happened after the race. This pushed Trulli out of points and promoted Hamilton to third. Toyota initially decided to appeal but withdrew their decision earlier this week.
The FIA's redemption?
Following a review of the McLaren pit-to-car radio transmissions from Melbourne, which the FIA got their hands on recently, F1's governing body decided to reinstate Trulli back to his deserving third position and exclude Hamilton and McLaren from the results at Australia.
Lewis Hamilton had immediately after the race spoken to the media and stated that the team had asked him to let Trulli re-pass him as they were not sure of the regulations.
All was fine till this point, until McLaren decided to take advantage of the situation and during the FIA hearing post the race, conveniently 'failed' to express that they had asked Hamilton to let Trulli pass, stating that 'they thought the FIA had already reviewed the radio transmissions.'
Transcripts of the conversation clearly show that McLaren asked Hamilton to let Trulli pass again - a situation consistent with Jarno Trulli's statement that he saw Hamilton slow down and move to the side, indicating that he might have had a problem, which is why he passed the McLaren to move back into third place.
Befitting of a champion?
Whatever transpired, it remains a fact that World Champion should have behaved in a more sporting manner and maintained his original statement that he made to the media about deliberately letting Trulli pass him again due to lack of clarity of the regulations.
The fact that McLaren tried to take advantage of the situation and moulded their statements to make it look like Trulli was at fault, is just so plain disheartening.
Time and again Hamilton has come under the hammer for unsporting behaviour through the 2008 season - raising questions about his worthiness of being the World Champion.
In last year's Italian Grand Prix he clearly had the faster car but in what was an over-aggressive move in a very wet race, he pushed Timo Glock wide onto the grass while making a move on him.
Lewis drove an awesome race in Melbourne last week - making full use of the KERS system on his car to move from a dismal 18th place on the grid to finally make it into fourth spot before the whole Trulli incident happened.
The McLaren driver has as a result of some very poor sportsmanship on behalf of the team, lost more than just 5 points - he has lost a lot of respect and face as well - which will be much harder to regain than lost championship points!
In a statement following the FIA's decision to disqualify McLaren and Hamilton from the Australian GP, Hamilton has expressed regret and apologised. He has said that he was misled and is very sorry for what happened.
It is a brave move indeed, but doesn't turn the focus away from an ill-fated few days in F1.
FIA at fault too.
Up until last year, teams could contact the race director during the proceedings of a race to clarify the running order to make sure they weren't breaking any of the FIA's rules.
But after being misinformed by the stewards, McLaren was penalised at Spa. FIA President Max Mosley eventually put down a regulation that the teams could not contact any of the stewards during the race anymore.
All it needed for this whole Hamilton-Trulli fiasco to be avoided last week, was for a provision to be in place for McLaren to contact the stewards to clarify the car's running orders when Trulli went off track.
2009 seems like a mix of good and bad moves by the FIA. There is certainly a lot more racing going on in the races, but there is also a whole lot more off-track court-room battling going on - which is plain disappointing!
Let's just leave the racing for the track, and for once let's leave the results as they are on the weekend. Anyone at FIA listening?