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Paris9 - McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh apologised in person to F1's governing body on Wednesday and hoped his team could move on from a lying controversy that has threatened their season.
Arriving in a silver Mercedes at the International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s imposing Place de la Concorde headquarters, Whitmarsh delivered a statement of apology and left after less than an hour inside.
"We've made mistakes, we've apologised to the FIA and the public," he told reporters. "We await the decision."
Asked whether this was the end of the affair, the Briton - marking his 51st birthday in far from happy circumstances - replied: "I very much hope so.
"I hope that this will draw a line and we can carry on racing."
The FIA's 26-member world motor sport council must now decide how big a price McLaren, already struggling on the racetrack, have to pay for lying to stewards at the season-opening race in Australia last month.
McLaren are charged with five counts of bringing the sport into disrepute by deliberately misleading the stewards in Melbourne and then sticking to their story at the subsequent Malaysian Grand Prix.
World champion Lewis Hamilton was subsequently stripped of the third place he had been awarded by the stewards and both he and the team were excluded from the race results.
The 24-year-old Hamilton did not attend the hearing, with Whitmarsh the team's only representative in front of the council.
Hamilton apology:
Possible sanctions range from a reprimand to suspension from the championship for a team who were fined a record $100m and stripped of all their constructors' points for a spying controversy in 2007.
Most observers expect the team to escape a ban, with a fine and/or points penalty to be the most likely outcome when the decision is announced later in the day.
The Mercedes-powered team have dismissed long-serving sporting director Dave Ryan while former boss and shareholder Ron Dennis has distanced himself from the F1 side of McLaren's business.
A contrite Hamilton, who did not attend Wednesday's hearing, has also issued a public apology for creating a situation that he said was the worst he had ever experienced.
Whitmarsh, aware another hefty fine would be hard for 40 percent owners Mercedes to swallow in the current financial climate, has also written to FIA president Max Mosley to offer an "unreserved apology" and accept the team were in breach of the regulations.
"McLaren were caught lying and have since offered a full apology to the FIA," the team's former driver David Coulthard said in a column for Britain's Daily Telegraph.
"They have sacked one employee, seen another resign and had their name dragged through the mud. Their card has been marked, their reputation tainted. Do we really need to see more?"