Hamilton was later disqualified.....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7980593.stmThe fall-out from Lewis Hamilton's exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix has led to a senior McLaren official being suspended from his job.
Sporting director Dave Ryan has been suspended after 35 years with the team.
Hamilton gave stewards "deliberately misleading" evidence after Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing him while the safety car was out in Melbourne.
Ryan was with Hamilton at hearings with race stewards, where McLaren admit both men did not "entirely tell the truth".
At a news conference in Malaysia on Friday, McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said that Ryan had not been "entirely full and truthful with the answers he gave [to the stewards], so we had not alternative but to suspend him".
He added that [during the two meetings with stewards in Melbourne on Sunday following the race], although Hamilton had also been "not entirely truthful, Davey was the senior member of the team, so he is responsible for what happened".
Whitmarsh said: "He did not set out with a deliberate intention to mislead, but during the course of the meeting he was not as clear as he should have been. He made a very serious error of judgement and is paying the consequences of for that."
He said it was a "very sad day" for McLaren, adding: "It is a point of deep regret. For Davey, it's been a shattering day."
Whitmarsh also apologised to the FIA for the problems McLaren had caused.
"In my 20-odd years working for McLaren, I doubt if I've met a more dedicated individual than Davey," he added.
"He's been an integral part of McLaren since 1974 and has played a crucial role in the team's many world championship successes since that time."
Race stewards in Australia initially disqualified Trulli from third place for passing Hamilton behind the safety car.
But it later emerged that Hamilton had told the stewards he had not been asked by McLaren to let Trulli past him when the team's radio transmission proved that he had.
Trulli was running third in his Toyota, ahead of Hamilton, when the safety car came out three laps from the end of the race but he ran off the road at the penultimate corner.
Hamilton passed the Italian - as he was entitled to do, because the Toyota was fully off the track at the time but then his engineer can be heard ordering him to let Trulli back past again.
It is not clear why Hamilton did not make this information available to the race stewards at the time - he has not spoken to the media since his disqualification.
The stewards' hearing was reopened on Thursday in Malaysia and, after listening to team radio communications, race stewards reversed their decision.
BBC Sport understands that there is very little chance of Hamilton facing any further punishment over the matter, despite suggestions to the contrary on Thursday.
The Stevenage-born driver failed to shine in practice at Malaysia's Sepang circuit on Friday, finishing seventh and 11th respectively in the first and second sessions.
