Briatore: "Hamilton will throw away this title too"

According to Flavio Briatore, Lewis Hamilton will "throw away the world title again". The Renault managing director recalled the Englishman's mistakes at the end of last season, when he squandered a 17-point lead allowing Kimi Raikkonen to win the world championship in the last race. "Hamilton last year entered the Guinness Book of Records, and now that he has a five-point lead he will do it again. For me Massa will win the title."

Briatore's comments are not a surprise, particularly after the 2007 battle with McLaren regarding spy stories: "They accused us of espionage, we went on for four months with a story that never existed" Briatore explained to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Hamilton should be reminded that he is a Formula 1 driver, not a Martian. And he is not Muhammad Ali. He is a good driver but good drivers bring the result home. There are good footballers who always take the post or the crossbar and the ball never goes into the goal. Then there are those who score and those who have never scored. Hamilton hasn't learned anything yet, we saw it in Japan" added Briatore.