29/09/2020
NEWS STORY
In his time as technical director, team boss, team owner and F1 MD, Ross Brawn has worked with most of the leading names from the sport's modern era.
Having been instrumental in luring Lewis Hamilton from McLaren to Mercedes the Briton will feel a special affinity to the six-time world champion.
With that in mind, Brawn has advised Hamilton to move on from last Sunday's events.
"Lewis has had some bad luck in the last few races, with the penalties in Monza and now Sochi," writes Brawn in his debrief for the official F1 website.
"Personally, I would go away, lick my wounds and think about how I could prevent such incidences again in the future," he continues.
"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," he continued, "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."
As if the penalties weren't controversial enough, Hamilton responded by claiming that the sort's powers that be are "trying to stop" him, a comment refuted by race director, Michael Masi.
Referring to race-winner, Valtteri Bottas, the main beneficiary of Hamilton's misfortune, Brawn said: "It was a brilliant drive from Valtteri and said a lot about his character. 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.
"Clearly Valtteri loves Russia and Russia loves him. Two wins and two seconds in four years is an exceptional record. He didn't make mistakes."
Referring to the battle that never was, Brawn admits that it "would have been fascinating to see how the strategies evolved, as Lewis was potentially compromised by starting the race on soft tyre, while Valtteri was on the medium.
"It's a shame we didn't get to see how that would have played out in the end."
Indeed.