My understanding is that either there are no transcripts of the discussions during the meetings or they have not been released by the FIA so we only have the FIA’s word that Hamilton & Ryan lied.

Of course there will then be the FIA hearing, presided over by, yes……the FIA, has Ryan been sacrificed for the sake of the team? wasn’t that enough for the FIA, was Dennis the lamb to the slaughter or did he just get fed up of the crap, God only knows but I don’t think any serious F1 fan has any faith in the FIA anymore.

Strangely, I don’t really agree with your last paragraph. Mosley and Ecclestone have been running F1 for almost as long as I can remember and to be honest, it wouldn’t be the sport we have today without them but Bernie seems to be pushing the venues too far with inappropriate evening races and night races that, as was shown with MotoGP, if it rains simply cant be run.

Most of the real problems seem to have developed since Donnelly joined which reflects his political background, micro management and interference of everything he’s involved with.

A friend of mine told me a story of the oldest documented living organism on earth which was a Eucalyptus plant some 5,000 years old. When the scientists discovered it they decided to ensure it’s safety so began ‘looking after’ it whereupon it promptly died when one of them pruned it. That’s Donnelly, can’t leave well alone.

Max has to go, taking Donnelly with him, and I believe the ideal replacement is Todt, the best manager in the pit lane.

While Hamilton may have lied in Australia with the adrenaline flowing fresh after jumping out of the car, this doesn’t explain why he and Mr Ryan decided to continue lying when they met again with the stewards a week later in Malaysia, despite having listened to the radio conversation and being given an opportunity to correct their story.

I agree that the FIA is at fault for its shambolic stewarding processes, and I still cannot fathom why they did not originally listen to the radio transmissions while they were in Melbourne.

Mosley has been in charge while the stewards’ decisions have become ever farcical, and I would agree that Max Mosley has done ten times as much to bring the sport into disrepute as McLaren has.

This ‘Liegate’ scandal is an appalling waste of time, it’s an FIA (read Max Mosely and Alan Donnelly) contrived publicity stunt and yet more evidence of the FIA victimisation of McLaren.

Personally I’m not interested if McLaren are punished for on track indiscretions but to cite ‘bringing the FIA into disrepute’ by lying about an event that was nothing than a minor on track misunderstanding is stretching credibility to its limits.

Hamilton jumped out a 180mph F1 car virtually straight into an interrogation with the FIA. Yea maybe he and Ryan did say the wrong thing, maybe they just wanted to buy some time to find out what happened before committing themselves but why would they bother when they knew every ship to shore conversation is recorded and would be used by the FIA. Why would Hamilton blab to the press within minutes of the FIA interrogation that he had let Trulli past.

This whole affair ought to have been discussed and Hamilton given the place with Trulli awarded fourth.

The FIA is as consistent in it’s inconsistency as our current government and I believe stupid political tactics to divide and conquer are a consequence of Donnelly’s ‘expertise’ in politics and Mosleys love for power through manipulation.

F1 is a circus at the best of times but Mosley needs to go.

i know this sells papers and provide incredible traffic to sites but what happened to decency and the racing? enough already..we all know mclaren/lewis are always in the fia scope and the trigger is primed to strike..don’t worry, april 29 will hammer them some more, so what is with this dousing the flames with jetfuel? enough..it seems that the daily mail has a free lifetime supply of jetfuel..they keep on churning out cheap trash on a daily basis..maybe the y should be renamed the daily trash..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/15/manchester-city-losses-accounts-2007-08

Alex and Pink Peril — interesting questions. The issue over whether Martin Whitmarsh lied appears to be down to whether he heard the radio communications. I guess it’s always possible that he was completely unaware of the radio messages, though I would find that surprising.

The voice on the radio is Phil Prew, who I think is Hamilton’s race engineer. He was partially relaying instructions given to him by Dave Ryan.

Martin Whitmarsh asked Dave Ryan what happened and Dave Ryan told him the lie.

My guess is that this is what we’ll hear McLaren saying about this.