Formula One news

'Let Trulli through', McLaren told Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has explained that his team instructed him to allow Jarno Trulli to repass him during the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. Trulli, who finished third at the end of the race, was handed a 25-second penalty for passing the McLaren under safety car conditions on the penultimate lap of the race.

The confusion between the two drivers began at the end of lap 56, when the safety car had been deployed follow the collision between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica. Trulli - running third - overshot at Turn 15, skipping across the grass as Hamilton passed the Totota which, in turn, retook his position behind the safety car, claiming that the the World Champion's McLaren slowed and moved off the racing line, as if with a technical problem.

With the Italian devastated over the loss of his third place, Hamilton gave his view of events to SpeedTV: "I was behind Trulli under the safety car, and clearly you're not allowed to overtake under the safety car but he went off in the second to last corner - he went wide and onto the grass, I guess his tyres were cold. I slowed down as much as I could, but was forced to go by. I was then told to let him back past, but I don't know if that's in the regulations and, if it isn't, I should really have had third on the road."

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