Hamilton advised to 'go away and lick his wounds' after recent penalty woes

Formula 1 managing director motorsport Ross Brawn has advised Lewis Hamilton to back away from the spotlight and 'lick his wounds' after a difficult Russian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was clearly flustered when facing the media on Sunday, suggesting openly that the FIA are trying to sabotage his season.

Slapped with a ten second penalty for conducting his pre-race practice starts in the improper location, an action the stewards believed gave the Mercedes driver a sporting advantage, Hamilton initially also had two penalty points added to his licence.

The points, which were later rescinded after team representatives met with the stewards, briefly took Hamilton to a total of 10; a race ban being the penalty for accruing 12 across a rolling 12 month period.

"Lewis has had some bad luck in the last few races, with the penalties in Monza and now Sochi," wrote Brawn in his Formula1.com column.

"Personally, I would go away, lick my wounds and think about how I could prevent such incidences again in the future.

"That’s what I know the team will be doing. I know many of the people, from my time at the team, and they will recognise they have made some mistakes.

"Bad luck and mistakes happen, it’s how you respond that matters. It’s easy to think the world is against you, but there is nearly always something you could have done differently and you can learn from."

On the other side of the Mercedes garage, the mood was far more positive, as Valtteri Bottas celebrated a first win in nine race.

The Finn has taken a fair amount of flack while racing alongside Hamilton, and Brawn commented Bottas appears to feed off such comments.

"It was a brilliant drive from Valtteri and said a lot about his character," he explained. "He’s had some tough results this season, so this was a demonstration of a remarkable resilience.

"He seems to be feeding off the criticism rather than succumbing to the pressure. He’s building a quiet determination to compete with Lewis, who right now is the best reference in town."

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