Italian driver Jarno Trulli has applauded the FIA for making an example of McLaren over the 'lie-gate' scandal.

The team face the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on April 29 to answer five charges of disrepute after Lewis Hamilton and Dave Ryan - since sacked as sporting director - lied to race stewards.

The repercussions of the turbulent events that began in Australia and came to a head in Malaysia, will be felt this weekend in China.

Other than post-qualifying and post-race scrum interviews, McLaren have pulled Hamilton from all other media opportunities, a decision that could be replicated in Bahrain next weekend.

The team are determined to take the heat off their reigning world champion in the build-up to a hearing Hamilton is almost certain to attend to explain his version of events.

As for Toyota driver Trulli, he believes motor sport's world governing body deserve credit for the stance taken.

"My feeling is the FIA took such a strong decision because they felt someone was making a joke of them at the end of the day, and they wanted to show to everyone they are just like a judge," said Trulli to Autosport.

"Go in front of the judge and you have to be honest and tell the truth. You might get away with it once, but it's better not to do it. You take a lot of risk. This is what happened, basically."

Hamilton has since claimed he was told to lie by Ryan ahead of the initial stewards' hearing in Melbourne after the 24-year-old had mistakenly handed back third place to Trulli following a safety-car incident.

The two men persisted with their story a few days later in Sepang, where they were confronted with contradictory evidence, notably a post-race interview by Hamilton and driver-to-pit-wall radio transmissions.

As the truth emerged, resulting in Hamilton being disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix, he issued an emotional apology, whilst the team suspended Ryan, eventually dismissing him after 30 years' service.

"I think it was a very, very unfortunate circumstance for both of us," added veteran Italian Trulli.

"I personally don't know who lied and why they lied. In my opinion, there was no interest to lie. Really, no interest. But someone has really misjudged the rules.

"Personally I'm not here to blame anyone. The problem is on that particular occasion I looked stupid and I didn't do anything wrong.

"I'm not the kind of person who thinks about revenge or anything, I get on with everyone. I use a sentence like live and let live."

For now, up until after qualifying, Hamilton's only thoughts ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix come via McLaren's preview press release.

Following a miserable start to the defence of his title, and in a clearly uncompetitive car, Hamilton is at least hoping the team have made some progress since Malaysia in curing their ills.

Hamilton, who won last season's race in Shanghai en route to title glory, said: "We got it spot-on last year.

"While I don't expect us to enjoy that sort of performance advantage this season, I think we're all looking forward to a good showing.

"Hopefully, some of the upgrades we've added to car for this race will have a benefit.

"It would be very encouraging if we could qualify a little further up the grid and be regularly challenging for points."