Sepang, Malaysia  - Formula One driver Jarno Trulli can hope that he would get back his third-place finish in the Australian Grand Prix when racing stewards meet Thursday.

A 25-second penalty was imposed on the Toyota driver after the Italian was deemed to have passed improperly under safety car conditions during Sunday's season opener in Melbourne. The penalty demoted him to 12th place.

Motorsport's ruling body, FIA, said "a new element has emerged regarding the incident" without elaborating. It requested Trulli and Lewis Hamilton, whom Trulli passed, meet with stewards in Sepang, Malaysia, ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

According to the online site of the German trade magazine auto, motor und sport, there are inconsistencies in Hamilton's description of events to the media and racing stewards.

Trulli slid off the track Sunday during the 56th lap in a safety car phase after an accident involving Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica, which forced Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes to pass him. Trulli then moved ahead of the world champion again, but the stewards deemed this move illegal and moved up Hamilton to third place, behind Brawn GP drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

Toyota initially decided to pursue an appeal for its driver but changed its mind Wednesday because of the slim possibility of its success.

Trulli criticized the decision against him.

"We have all the evidence, including Hamilton's admission, that I did not overtake him," he said Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur in presenting his case. "He let me pass.

"Hamilton had a problem and he slowed down, almost stopping. There was nothing else I could do but keep going, and in order to do that, I had to pass him."

If Trulli's version of the events is true, passing under such conditions in the safety car phase would be allowed.

Speculation surrounds why Hamilton slowed down. On one hand, he was said to be uncertain about whether his own passing manoeuvre was correct, and that is why he allowed Trulli to overtake him.

But Hamilton was also suspected of deliberately slowing down to trap Trulli, according to auto, motor and sport, but Hamilton denied dropping his pace on purpose.

If the latter accusation is true, the 24-year-old and his racing team could face penalties. (dpa)