Apr 2, 2009, 13:38 GMT
Sepang, Malaysia - Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren-Mercedes team were on Thursday stripped of his third place finish from last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, race stewards in Sepang said.
They also said that Trulli would be reinstated as third place finisher.
The McLaren-Mercedes driver originally finished fourth, but was promoted to third after race stewards penalized Toyota's Jarno Trulli for overtaking during a safety car phase.
An investigation held by race stewards in Sepang, where Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix will be held, found that Hamilton and his team had deliberately handed in evidence that had mislead race stewards.
It was not disclosed what evidence the race stewards were referring to, but German media reports said that there was a contradiction in what Hamilton had told the press after the race and what he told race stewards.
Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug said that the team would not appeal against the decision.
'I am shocked at the extent of the penalty, but we need all our efforts for our attempts to improve our performance,' he said.
'We will not appeal the decision and accept the situation as it is. We will concentrate our efforts on that which is ahead of us: The next Grand Prix, which will be raced on Sunday. The last race is finished.'
Trulli, meanwhile, was relieved with the decision. 'All evidence suggested that I had not broken any rules,' the 34-year-old, whose team had earlier said they would not appeal the original decision, said.
The incident occurred when the safety car was called out following a crash between Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica in a BMW-Sauber.
During the safety car phase Trulli slipped off the track and was overtaken by Hamilton, who then allowed the Italian to move back into third place.
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