Formula One news

'Sad day' for McLaren - Whitmarsh

Martin Whitmarsh has expressed his sadness over the ongoing issue surrounding the McLaren team. The Englishman, who took over from Ron Dennis as team principal at the beginning of this season, has suspended team manager and 35-year team veteran Dave Ryan for his part in the scandal.

Whitmarsh explains the situation to the mass media at Sepang

The grounds on which the difficult decision was taken are clear, if not regrettable, to Whitmarsh; having twice swapped places with Jarno Trulli under safety car conditions in Australia, Lewis Hamilton explained his version of events to interviewers immediately upon returning to the pits. Just minutes later, the World Champion - under apparent instruction from Ryan - explained a different story to the FIA-appointed race stewards, for which the team was disqualified from the event on Thursday.

"It became clear from discussions with Dave on Thursday night and through into Friday morning that, during the stewards meeting after the Australian Grand Prix, he was not entirely full and truthful in the answers he gave them," Whitmarsh explained. "Consequently, we had no alternative other than to suspend him; as you can imagine, it is a very sad day for the team but we have got to deal with this weekend - however, we do have to look in a bit more detail at all of the events that surrounded it."

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