14/04/2009
NEWS STORY
As it prepares for the extraordinary meeting of the WMSC, when McLaren will answer charges that it breached of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, the FIA has asked the BBC to hand over a recording of an interview with Martin Whitmarsh.
The interview took place after the end of the Australian Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton and (McLaren Sporting Director) Dave Ryan were meeting with the Race Stewards, and is said to be vital to the hearing which takes place on April 29.
In the interview, Whitmarsh is alleged to have said: "At the end, under the safety car, Trulli fell off on to the grass and Lewis had no choice but to go past him. He was not on the racing circuit. Trulli then retook the place under the safety car, which ordinarily you wouldn't do. I know that the FIA are looking at it at the moment."
Whitmarsh's words clearly suggest that Trulli passed Hamilton of his own volition, rather than the English driver allowing him to pass, which in turn suggests that the McLaren boss knew what Hamilton and Ryan were telling the race stewards even though he claimed to know nothing of what had been said.