‘Only human’ Lewis Hamilton vows to ‘take lessons’ from F1 penalty

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is “only human” and insists he will “take my lessons” from his penalty at the Russian Grand Prix.

Hamilton received a 10-second time penalty for breaking practice-start rules which cost him the chance of winning the Russian Grand Prix and matching Michael Schumacher’s all-time F1 record of 91 race victories.

The Briton relayed a series of angry radio messages during the race and afterwards labelled the decision to give him two penalty points “ridiculous”, claiming that the Sochi stewards were “trying to stop me”.

F1 bosses ultimately rescinded the penalty points they had given to Hamilton and instead fined Mercedes €25,000 on the basis the team provided him instructions not to do the practice start in the designated area.

On Tuesday, Hamilton took to social media to explain that his emotions were running high due to his passion for F1 and said he would “keep on fighting” in the coming races as he bids to draw level with Schumacher on seven world championship titles.

“I may not always get it right in the face of adversity,” Hamilton wrote on social media.

“I may not always react the way you want me to when tensions are high, but I am only human after all and I am passionate about what I do.

“I’m learning and growing every day, and I’ll take my lessons and keep fighting on to the next one.

“Thank you to those of you who continue to support me and are right there fighting with me.”

F1 chief Ross Brawn said he felt Hamilton will come away and “lick his wounds” from the setback.

“Lewis has had some bad luck in the last few races, with the penalties in Monza and now Sochi,” Brawn wrote in his post-race 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.”

Hamilton holds a 44-point lead over Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas heading into the final races of the season after the Finn capitalised on Hamilton’s penalty to claim his second win of the year.