The FIA’s race stewards have summoned Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton to appear at an inquiry in Malaysia this evening after new evidence emerged over their safety car incident in Melbourne.

Trulli was stripped of third place after stewards ruled he had passed Hamilton under safety car conditions despite comments by the World Champion suggesting he was ordered to let the Toyota through by his superiors.

“I was behind Trulli under the safety car, and clearly you’re not allowed to overtake under the safety car. But he went off in the second to last corner, he went wide on the grass, I guess his tyres were cold. And I was forced to go by,” Hamilton said to Speed TV.

“I slowed down as much as I could. I was told to let him back past, but I mean… I don’t know if that’s the regulations, and if it isn’t, then I should have really had third.”

Hamilton however changed his version of events when queried by stewards only hours later, reportedly stating he did not deliberately allow Trulli through.

Unfortunately for the Brit champion, the FIA have since obtained a copy of McLaren’s radio communications, allegedly confirming Hamilton misled the stewards.

Coincidentally, this news broke a day after Toyota announced it was withdrawing its appeal.

The team said in a statement:

“Having considered recent judgments of the International Court of Appeal and referring to the Sporting Code, it is believed that any appeal will be rejected on a procedural point.”

“Based on this, Toyota Motorsport have decided that it would serve no benefit to pursue this course of action.”

Hamilton had been widely praised for his performance on Sunday, but should the FIA rule he lied to stewards, the Brit could be disqualified from the event.

Alternatively, he could be summoned to Formula 1 Race Director Charlie Whiting’s office and told to write 100 times, ‘I shall not tell lies.’