McLaren hit by suspended three-race ban for 'Lie-gate' scandal

McLaren Mercedes have been hit with a suspended three-race ban after they pleaded guilty to misleading stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.
Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, faced the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris today, and pleaded guilty to five charges of bringing Formula One into disrepute in connection with the “Lie-gate” scandal. However, the penalty will only be enforced on the team if "further facts emerge" about this incident or if there is a "further breach" of the rules.
The team did not contest the case and threw themselves on the mercy of the FIA as a result of the attempt by Lewis Hamilton and Dave Ryan, the now dismissed McLaren sporting director, to deceive the stewards after the race in Melbourne and before the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"Having regard to the open and honest way in which McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh addressed the World Motor Sport Council and the change in culture he made clear is taking place in his organisation, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deemed appropriate," an FIA statement read.
"That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races [in the world championship]. This will only be applied if further facts emerge regarding the case or if in the next 12 months there is further breach by the team."
Hamilton has avoided any further punishment after his disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix. The world champion was initially promoted from fourth to third after the race stewards in Melbourne handed Jarno Trulli a 25-second penalty for passing the Briton behind the safety car.
During the meeting, Whitmarsh again took the opportunity to offer his team's sincere apologies for the mistakes made in Australia and Malaysia.
Following the hearing described by McLaren as "very fair", Whitmarsh said: "I would like to thank the FIA World Motor Sport Council members for affording me the opportunity to answer their questions this morning.
"We are aware we made serious mistakes in Australia and Malaysia, and I was therefore very glad to be able to apologise for those mistakes once again.
"I was also pleased to be able to assure the FIA World Motor Sport Council members that we had taken appropriate action with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again."
A McLaren statement added: "We now look forward with enthusiasm to continuing our efforts to develop a closer and more co-operative relationship between ourselves and the FIA.
"We will also continue to focus our efforts on closing the performance gap that exists between our car and the fastest cars.
"Following Lewis' encouraging fourth place in Bahrain on Sunday, we are now optimistic we will be able to play an increasingly competitive part in what is fast developing into a very exciting season of Formula One motor racing."
Speaking after the hearing, Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, said the WMSC's decision had been "entirely fair."
"They [McLaren] have demonstrated there is a complete culture change, that it's all different to what it was," he said. "In those circumstances it looks better to put the whole thing behind us, so unless there is something similar in the future, that is the end of the matter."
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone described the proceedings as "good, fair, honest and straight."
"I thought Martin was happy with that. He shouldn't have done something wrong should he? So he got a slap," he said.
"But it was good for everybody that decision. They had their wrist slapped. That was all they needed. They've had enough punishment."
Source:The times