FIA will review Hamilton podium in Malaysia

The FIA has announced that it is to review its decision to penalise Toyota's Jarno Trulli in last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, by calling Lewis Hamilton to the stewards' office in Malaysia. The Italian driver lost third place and six points when handed with a 25-second time penalty for passing the McLaren under safety car conditions in the dying minutes of the race.

The incident began shortly after the deployment of the second and last safety car of the race, as Trulli ran off the track at Turn 15. He duly re-passed the McLaren, with the safety car still circulating, to retake the third position, for which the FIA imposed the penalty later in the evening.

A twist in the story occurred, however, when Hamilton admitted that his team called for him to let the Toyota driver retake his podium position, with Trulli claiming that the McLaren slowed and moved off line, as if retiring from the race.

It has now emerged, however, that the World Champion explained to race stewards in Australia that he did not deliberately yield to the Toyota, despite seemingly telling SpeedTV the opposite just minutes before.

"I was behind Trulli under the safety car, and clearly you're not allowed to overtake under the safety car," Hamilton explained before seeing the stewards. "But Trulli went off in the second to last corner - he went onto the grass, I guess his tyres were cold. I was forced to go by. I slowed down as much as I could but I was told to let him back past, but I don't know if that's the regulations and, if it isn't, then I should have really had third."

The governing body has also received a copy of McLaren's radio communications from the race, which was not available to race stewards on Sunday night. It is now looking more likely that - if Hamilton is judged to have changed his story - Trulli will reclaim his podium finish, and could mean the Englishman finishes further down the order taking his original fourth position.