FIA still waiting on Toyota appeal

Trulli was ruled to have overtaken Lewis Hamilton during the final safety car spell, having earlier lost the place to his McLaren rival when he ran off the track while the cars were touring around.

The stewards handed Trulli a 25-second penalty, as a drive-through punishment was not possible as the race had finished, moving him down from third place to 12th overall. That decision moved Hamilton up to third overall.

Although Toyota tried to appeal that decision, the stewards deemed that the appeal was inadmissible - similar to McLaren's appeal against Hamilton's chicane-cutting punishment from last year's Belgian Grand Prix.

However, AUTOSPORT has learned that Toyota has decided to take the matter further - and notified the Australian Grand Prix's Clerk of the Course that it wants to appeal the results.

An FIA spokesman said on Monday that the governing body was now awaiting final confirmation that Toyota wanted to see through the appeal, which would likely result in an FIA International Court of Appeal hearing.

"Toyota communicated their intention to appeal to the Clerk of the Course last night," said the FIA spokesman. "They were reminded by the Stewards that, as with Spa last season, penalties of this kind have proven to be inadmissible to appeal. They have 48 hours to consider their position."