Lewis Hamilton disqualified by Melbourne stewards

Lewis Hamilton is facing one of the biggest crises of his career after it emerged that he had “deliberately misled” the stewards and the race director of the Australian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton Q&A

''We are getting there as a team'' Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton brought points home last Sunday at the conclusion of the drenched Chinese Grand Prix when they crossed the finish line in fifth and sixth positions...  

Dennis steps down from McLaren

• Investigation into Australian grand prix forced hand• Lewis Hamilton will lose his mentorRon Dennis has stepped down as chairman of McLaren, the formula one team has confirmed. There had been continued speculation that the 61-year-old would be forced to resign his position after an investigation in the team's actions during the Australian grand prix. He did not travel to China for this weekend's race and is thought to be addressing staff at the team's Woking headquarters.Dennis has been involved in formula one for 43 years but, after what the company called "major restructuring", he has now passed on responsibility for the team to Martin Whitmarsh. "No one asked me to do it," he said. "It was my decision."The former chairman says he will now focus on the automotive side of the company, in which he owns a 15% stake, and hopes to launch a new McLaren sports car in 2011.Dennis gave up his role as team principal on 1 March, to be replaced by Whitmarsh again, and since then the team have faced difficulties after their 2009 car proved to be slower than most of those of their rivals. However it was the incident in the opening race of the season that is thought to have sparked Dennis' exit.Though Lewis Hamilton, Dennis' protégé, finished in fourth in Melbourne – before being promoted to third when Jarno Trulli was penalised by 25 seconds – he was eventually disqualified. Tapes of race conversations with the pit lane showed that the British driver had been instructed to allow Trulli past and further investigation concluded that McLaren had provided "evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards".The investigation into the affair is continuing after Hamilton claimed he was told not to tell the race stewards about the comments of his team director Dave Ryan, who has been sacked. There is a World Motor Sport Council hearing scheduled for 29 April, at which further sanctions are expected.Formula oneLewis HamiltonMcLarenMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Lewis Hamilton’s reputation risked by people who drove him down the road to chicanery

There are two ways that the Lewis Hamilton cheating saga can affect his future with McLaren Mercedes, which is now on a knife edge. Either Hamilton and his father Anthony, who manages him, can find a way to forgive and rebuild, or the trauma of what happened at the Australian Grand Prix will weep poison into the relationship and it will eventually fall apart.

Dennis writes off Hamilton's chances

• Former team principle focuses on 2010 title fight• 'Brawn will win a lot of races' says Ron DennisRon Dennis yesterday all but wrote off Lewis Hamilton's chances of a successful defence of his world title only two races into the new formula one season.McLaren has suffered what its former team principal described as a "torrid" first two grands prix, with Hamilton disqualified in Australia and picking up only a single championship point in Malaysia's truncated race. His team-mate, Heikki ­Kovalainen, has yet to complete a circuit.That has led Dennis, who yesterday confirmed he had left ­motor sport altogether, to believe his team is suffering for its efforts in landing the title last year, a tussle with Ferrari that went to the final race. The new Brawn Racing team has taken advantage of this year's rule changes, with Jenson Button winning the first two races. Now Dennis, who stood down as team principal in favour of Martin Whitmarsh earlier this year, fears the title is already out of ­Hamilton's reach."After all that's happened this season people seem to be forgetting that we've got the numbers one and two on our cars," Dennis said. "They might not be next year, but we will do everything we can to make it happen again in two years."I'm absolutely distraught about the lack of performance of our grand prix cars. Look at Ferrari and McLaren, fighting tooth and nail to win last year's championship. Brawn will win a lot of races because of the competition having to focus on ­winning the championship last year."Hamilton's frustrations with his team's performance this season extend beyond the sluggishness of his car. Tensions between Dennis and Anthony Hamilton, the driver's father and agent, grew when the world champion was found to have lied to stewards at the Melbourne grand prix under ­orders from Dave Ryan, who has since been sacked as sporting director.But despite that friction, which has led to reports linking Hamilton with a move to Ferrari, Dennis yesterday backed the 24-year-old to win more world titles with McLaren. "Lewis has a contract and it's a long contract," he said. "He's been very fortunate always to be in a competitive McLaren. This is motor racing. Sometimes companies give you a competitive racing car, sometimes they don't."Dennis's departure has certainly strengthened the position of Whitmarsh, who yesterday admitted for the first time that he had offered his resignation as team principal immediately after the Malaysian grand prix, on the back of the "Liargate" scandal.The McLaren board of directors declined his offer to quit after 20 years with the team. Yet there is an unspoken feeling ahead of the FIA's inquiry on 29 April that the change in management structure may help to appease the sport's governing body."I think anyone who has looked at the relationship between McLaren and the FIA over the last few years would have to conclude that it would be healthier for all of us to have a more positive, constructive relationship than perhaps we've had in the past," Whitmarsh said yesterday in Shanghai. "Whilst I don't want to get into it, in fairness to Ron, he was not, to the best of my knowledge, involved in anything that happened in Australia or in the lead up to Malaysia. So therefore I don't believe there's a link."Whitmarsh denied that either Lewis Hamilton or his father had forced the change in team management because they were unhappy with the way the matter had been handled and they had threatened to leave McLaren."Personally, I've found Lewis and Anthony to be very supportive through what has been a very difficult time," Whitmarsh said. "They have been with the team a long time and I can see no reason why that will not continue for a long time. There is a mix of emotions; I think Lewis had some sadness about it as well because he has a long-standing relationship with Ron, so it's a mixture of things. And it is the same with all of us.We've got some sadness at the situation, but at the same time it's an opportunity for some of us to either step up to the plate and get the job done or fail. If we are honest about it, there has got to be a tinge of excitement in that as well."Lewis HamiltonMcLarenBrawnFormula oneMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Lewis Hamilton fastest in practice

• Briton unexpectedly tops standings at Nürburgring• Sebastian Vettel third fastest ahead of Jensen ButtonLewis Hamilton pulled off a major surprise by setting the fastest time in practice for Sunday's German grand prix. The world champion had the No1 alongside his name, to match that on his car, for only the second time in practice in what has so far been a season to forget.Hamilton had suggested yesterday that little would change in the wake of a wretched sequence of results which has seen him fail to make the second round of qualifying at the last three grands prix.With just nine points from eight races to date, Hamilton currently trails the championship leader Jenson Button by 55 points, with McLaren's focus already starting to switch towards next season. Yet the 24-year-old found himself out in front at the end of the two 90-minute sessions at the Nürburgring – the scene of the worst accident of his career two years ago when he his car ploughed nose first into a barrier at 175mph.Despite a late spin, Hamilton put up a time of 1min 32.149sec that no-one was able to better in the closing stages, pushing Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel down into second.Vettel had looked set to cheer his home fans by taking top spot, but the 22-year-old was 0.182sec adrift. Button was third in his Brawn, just 0.220sec down, whilst Mark Webber – fastest in the morning session – had to settle for fourth in his Red Bull, 0.331sec behind Hamilton.Toyota's Jarno Trulli again fared well in fifth, and with the gremlins taken care of after a truncated morning run, Adrian Sutil was sixth in his Force India. It was an up-and-down day for Force India, as Giancarlo Fisichella, who was also sixth in the morning, crashed out in the afternoon when he spun into a barrier, ripping off his nose cone.There was also drama in the paddock when German police attempted to impound the team's assets due to a contractual dispute just before first practice. The situation was swiftly resolved by Force India officials, with the promise their weekend will continue without further disruption.Behind Sutil, Button's Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello was seventh, with Renault's Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet sandwiching Williams' Kazuki Nakajima in eighth, ninth and 10th.The Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 12th and 16th, with the latter's Finnish compatriot Heikki Kovalainen 17th in his McLaren, 1.575sec behind team-mate Hamilton.Formula OneLewis HamiltonJenson ButtonMotor sportSebastian Vettelguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds