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Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes should lick their wounds and learn from mistakes made in Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix, Formula One motorsports director Ross Brawn said on Monday.
Six-time world champion Hamilton received two five-second penalties in Sochi for practicing wrong-place starts, penalties that put his attempt to achieve a record 91 wins on hold.
The Briton, who finished third after starting on pole position, accused the stewards of trying to stop him, but Brawn, a former Mercedes team boss, saw a combination of bad luck and mistakes.
“Personally, I would go away, lick my wounds and think about how I could prevent these types of incidents again in the future,” he said in a column on the website formula1.com.
“That’s what I know the team will do. I know a lot of people, from my time on the team, and they will admit that they made some mistakes.
“Bad luck and mistakes happen, what matters is how you respond. It’s easy to think the world is against you, but there is almost always something you could have done differently that you can learn from. “
Mercedes, who won with Valtteri Bottas, received a fine of 25,000 euros (approximately R496,884) by the stewards for clearing Hamilton to practice his starts where he did.
Hamilton initially received two penalty points, which would have put him dangerously close to a race ban, but the stewards overruled that after accepting team responsibility.
The Briton, still four points away from the ban, said it would have to be “squeaky clean” in the future.
“I suppose we will go through the rule book and select areas where they can create rules, areas where sanctions have never been given before,” he said.
“We’ve been through seasons before without penalties, so I just have to make sure I don’t give them any reason, not even a sniff to be able to do something.
Team boss Toto Wolff said Mercedes would have to “take him on the chin and move on.”
