[johnuioyer]

Mail On Sunday Reporter: 02:14 GMT, 13 May 2012

Lewis Hamilton has been stripped of pole position for today’s Spanish Grand Prix and demoted to the back of the grid – after
effectively running out of fuel during qualifying.

The British driver had completed his triumphant lap and was midway through a ‘slow-down’ lap when his McLaren team ordered
him to stop because of a ‘technical problem’.

The car was found to have just 1.3 litres of petrol after it was hoisted back to the pits – insufficient for it to have completed the
lap and then to have provided a mandatory one-litre fuel sample.



Stewards ruled the car was underweight because of the lighter fuel load and could have given Hamilton, 27, an advantage. McLaren
claimed that the shortage had been caused by a fuel-rig fault and had not influenced the result.

But the stewards at the Barcelona track took a dim view of the infringement and ruled the former world champion must start today’s
race from the back row.