Trulli: Justice has been done

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Jarno Trulli believes justice has been served after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Australian GP on Thursday.

Hamilton was promoted from fourth to third following Sunday's race at Melbourne's Albert Park after stewards handed Trulli a 25-second penalty for passing the reigning world champion under yellow flags.

That followed an accident late on between Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who were running second and third at the time, bringing the safety car into play.

Toyota driver Trulli, demoted to 12th in light of the penalty, has since protested his innocence, although under the rules the team had no grounds to appeal.

However, with new evidence coming to light - notably radio traffic between Hamilton and his McLaren pit crew - the stewards have now hammered the 24-year-old following a further investigation.

Trulli has been reinstated to third, much to his delight.

He said: "I am happy because I wanted some justice and I got it.

"I am happy for myself and the team and I have to thank the FIA because it does not happen very often they reconsider something.

"It must have been really hard for them, but they had common sense to really try and understand what was going on. I have always been honest and it has paid off.

"It was a controversial end of the race and it was hard for anyone to understand, but I never lied. I was honest in my statement and I never changed it."

With the safety car out, Trulli concedes to making a mistake and running off the track at one stage, giving Hamilton the chance to legitimately pass and move up to third.

Shortly after, Hamilton then deliberately slowed - under orders to do so by McLaren - and believing his rival had a problem, Trulli reclaimed third place, albeit reluctantly.

The veteran Italian claims he offered Hamilton the opportunity to reclaim his place once it became apparent the Briton had no problem.

"The rules say if the car in front of you cannot keep a certain speed to follow the safety car, or is in trouble, you can overtake that car," Trulli added.

"I didn't know what his problem was but if he wanted he could have overtaken me. After I overtook him, I moved to the left side and he didn't overtake me."

Trulli feels Hamilton and McLaren should have been more clear with their explanation, although he added: "This is more up to him and not down to me.

"I know I told the truth and all the evidence shows I didn't break the rules. This is very clear. I said the same thing twice.

"I proved it with every kind of evidence and, on top of that, there was evidence from other teams, so that just confirms my statement."