MAGNY COURS, France, June 23, 2008 (AFP) - Former three-time world champion Jackie Stewart has advised Lewis Hamilton to go easy on himself as he is still in his second year of Formula One.

The Mclaren driver has failed to score points in the last two races and has received criticism from the media over the errors that have tainted his world title challenge.

However Stewart believes that everyone, including Hamilton himself, must realise that he is still relatively inexperienced.

"Lewis Hamilton is already world-famous. He´s now experiencing both the privilege and the penalty of celebrity," Stewart said Monday.

"We should remember that Lewis has only been in F1 for fifteen months. He´s not the finished article yet - and it´s wrong to think that he should be.

"He might not like to hear this, but he has a fundamental lack of experience at the top of the sport. If he asked for my advice, I´d say, ´Take your time, and don´t expect too much of yourself´.

"I know because I´ve been there myself. I had a big accident in my second year, which I was lucky to survive. Over the next few years I changed: I gained experience, which gave me knowledge, which in turn enabled me to deliver."

Stewart also questioned the FIA´s decision making, suggesting that not all recent penalty decisions and fines of late have been fairly awarded.

"We´ve seen a rash of penalties handed out by the FIA recently, both in the form of grid penalties and in fines," Stewart said on the official Formula One website.

"There rarely seems to be any compassion or any real attempt to see the driver´s side.

"You can also ask questions about the consistency with which penalties are applied. A lot of people - and not McLaren personnel - are saying that the FIA are more interested in finding faults at McLaren than at other teams."

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh has discarded comments that the FIA is targeting the British squad.

Whitmarsh said: "We had three penalties this weekend, we have got to accept it and move on.

"I think we have got to accept that the stewards have got a quieter time than us, and they got more information, and they have got to make the decision that they think is right.

"We didn´t see it like that, but we didn´t have the information that they had."