The McLaren team have been summoned to appear in front of an FIA council to explain their role in the ”lie-gate” controversy after the Australian Grand Prix.
The meeting will be held in Paris on 29 April and it will involve the World Motor Sport Council and the team. McLaren are to be charged with violation of the sport’s rules in their behaviour of two weeks’ ago, when Lewis Hamilton and sporting director Dave Ryan lied to the race stewards.
McLaren today issued a statement acknowledging the summons.
“McLaren acknowledge receipt of an invitation to appear at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on April 29, received this (Tuesday) afternoon,” it read.
“We undertake to co-operate fully with all WMSC processes, and welcome the opportunity to work with the FIA in the best interests of Formula 1.”
The FIA are expected to ask McLaren to explain why Hamilton and Ryan told the race stewards in Australia that Hamilton had not had an instruction from the team to let Toyota’s Jarno Trulli back past, when later radio evidence proved he had.
McLaren could face sanctions from the body which in 2007 fined them a world record €100m for having spied on Ferrari and then used their ”intellectual property”. While most commentators expect the sanctions to be harsh, the FIA will also face criticism if it appears to be bullying the team.
