Motorsport: McLaren may be banned for season

The FIA is again looking to make an example of McLaren, with an extraordinary meeting of the WMSC in Paris this month. Photo / AP

Lewis Hamilton's nightmare season went from bad to worse yesterday when motorsport's governing body, the FIA, announced that his McLaren team had been "invited" to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris at the end of the month.

This follows the accusations in Malaysia last weekend that they lied to the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix, which led to Hamilton and McLaren being disqualified from third place in Australia.

It is thought that driver and team could now face exclusion from this year's championship if they are found guilty by the WMSC of the charges they face.

The "invitation" to the meeting on Wednesday 29 April comes despite the disqualification; the suspension and departure of sporting director Dave Ryan; and public apologies from both Hamilton and the team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

Whitmarsh said: "Davy made a serious error of judgement, and that is something we have to put right. Lewis was not entirely truthful, but Davy was the senior team member. We're trying to deal with a situation we got wrong."

The summons also flies in the face of the advice the FIA president, Max Mosley, received from his on-the-ground consultant, Alan Donnelly, who was minded to let a disqualification be sufficient.

It suggests the FIA is once again seeking to make an example of McLaren as it did in 2007 when it fined the team US$100m for their alleged part in the "Stepneygate" spy scandal.

That affair centred around Ferrari and McLaren employees Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan, who sought to use confidential Ferrari data to make themselves attractive as technical gurus to the struggling Honda team.

- THE INDEPENDENT