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Toyota faces an uphill battle to appeal its lost Melbourne podium, but the Japanese team does have a valid case to argue.
Jarno Trulli's third place and champagne celebrations became twelfth on the official classification, after stewards ruled he illegally overtook Lewis Hamilton behind the Safety Car.
The Italian had been running third when the Safety Car came out late in the race, but he dropped behind the McLaren driver in an off-track moment.
"Trulli took back the place under the Safety Car," said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh at the time of the investigation.
The stewards of the meeting agreed, promoting Hamilton to third, but Trulli insisted that he only passed the Briton because he had "suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road."
"I thought he had a problem," the 34-year-old said, "so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do."
The rules permit overtaking under the Safety Car in such circumstances.
The problem for Toyota is the inadmissibility of appeals for post-race 25-second penalties, because if the incident had occurred earlier in the race, the penalty would have taken the form of a drive-through, which is not subject to appeal.
Toyota snuck in its appeal through a loophole, by lodging it not with the stewards of the meeting, but with the local clerk of the course.
The team has two days to formalise its appeal in writing.
If it allows the procedure, the Court of Appeal would be faced with a difficult decision. Hamilton has been quoted by Speed TV as admitting that - after passing Trulli following the Toyota's off - he was then "told (by McLaren) to let him back past."
Hamilton presumably then pulled over and slowed, which would seem to corroborate Trulli's explanation that he only passed the Briton because "there was nothing else I could do."
McLaren disqualified from Australian Grand Prix
The McLaren team has been disqualfied from the Australian Grand Prix following a detailed stewards' investigation into the incident involving the Englishman and Jarno Trulli on Sunday; the World Champion passed the Toyota under safety car conditions as the Italian ran off the circuit, before then slowing to allow Trulli to retake his position.
For repassing the McLaren, the Toyota driver was handed with a 25-second time penalty which resulted in him losing both his podium position and indeed any chance of points, as the tightly packed field finished the race under the safety car. As Toyota withdrew what would be a seemingly hopeless appeal this week, Trulli reminded onlookers of his version of events: "When the safety car came out towards the end of the race, Lewis Hamilton passed me but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I thought he had a problem, so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do."
Hamilton admitted to passing the Toyota as it ran across the grass at Turn 15, subsequently explaining that his team then instructed him to yield to Trulli. "I was behind Trulli under the safety car, and clearly you're not allowed to overtake under the safety car but he went off in the second to last corner," he explained to SpeedTV on Sunday. "He went wide and onto the grass, I guess his tyres were cold. I slowed down as much as I could, but was forced to go by. I was then told to let him back past, but I don't know if that's in the regulations and, if it isn't, I should really have had third."
Despite those comments, however, the stewards claim that Hamilton made no mention of this during their post-race investigation into the incident just minutes later, stating that he infact did not slow down to allow the Toyota to retake the place. Having received a recording of McLaren's radio broadcast during the race, the FIA has removed entire team from the final results of the race for providing 'deliberately misleading' information. This includes the second driver, Heikki Kovalainen, who will effectively not suffer the consequences having retired at the end of the first lap.
The governing body has also lifted Trulli's penalty, which places the Toyota driver back into the third position he originally achieved in Australia.
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