MADRID -- Formula One's race director says Lewis Hamilton privately apologized for deliberately misleading him and fellow stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.
Charlie Whiting said Hamilton sought him out ahead of the Malaysian GP last weekend to address the issue, showing remorse at having told stewards that McLaren had not given him instructions to let a rival overtake while behind the safety car.
"I was distinctly uncomfortable about Lewis' demeanour on Sunday (in Australia)," Whiting said in an interview with autosport.com. "The fact that he came and apologized to me in Sepang sums it up pretty much. He came to me and wanted to talk to me privately, and just said he wanted to apologize for everything he'd done and he wouldn't do it again."
Ruling body FIA has summoned McLaren to a special hearing on April 29 to answer charges of bringing the sport into disrepute, and the British team could face sanctions that include being banned from the world championship.
FIA said McLaren twice passed up opportunities to rectify evidence it knew was false. It stripped Hamilton of his third-place finish while expelling McLaren from the season-opening race at Melbourne.
The incident came about after Toyota's Jarno Trulli ran off the track behind the safety car, with Hamilton passing him into third place. Since overtaking is forbidden when the safety car is out, McLaren told the defending champion to yield third place back to Trulli. However, the team then said no such instructions were given, and Trulli was initially disqualified from the race.
Hamilton made an emotional apology ahead of the Malaysian GP, and McLaren said its long-standing sporting director Dave Ryan was responsible for masterminding the misleading statements. Ryan was suspended and has since left the team.
"We got into a little bit more detail of what happened when Trulli passed Lewis. Lewis did his best to fudge it, I would say, without responding completely and directly," Whiting said. "They were trying very hard to get off the important bit of the subject, and trying to divert the stewards' attention elsewhere. That's the impression, I got anyway."