War of words kicks off F1 season

Flavio Briatore, Renault's flamboyant boss, has fired the first salvo in Formula One's war of words ahead of the upcoming campaign.

And it is a direct hit on Lewis Hamilton, the world champion in only his second year in the top flight of motorsport. Briatore's opinion is that Hamilton is not as good as Fernando Alonso, his old foe and former bitter teammate at McLaren. In fact, stresses the outspoken Italian, Alonso is the best driver in F1, without any argument.

"Fernando is the finest driver on the grid," Briatore insisted at the opening, pre-season test sessions in Portugal," and he proved that again last year.

"He is truly a brilliant competitor. A talent to be feared and respected.The way he mixed it and fought for places with the likes of Hamilton and Felipe Massa last season was magnificent."

The 28-year-old was unceremoniously booted out of McLaren by team chief Ron Dennis after just one season following a series of very public and private disagreements with Hamilton.

And he was taken back by Briatore into the French team's fold, even though he was keen to switch to Ferrari - a move still in the offing if ex-champ Kimi Raikkonen flops as disastrously as he did last season.

Briatore, bursting with admiration for his £15 million (Dh79.5 million)-a-year hot-shot, added: "We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Fernando. He is a real boost for the team. A natural leader by example. With him and Nelson Piquet we have a particularly impressive line-up."

In a spectacular final flourish to last season, Spanish flyer Alonso grabbed all the glory with shock wins in Singapore and Japan and he says: "We had been going fairly well with some good results - but those two wins to round off the season underlined what we are capable of doing."

Briatore's workload maybe intense, with his commitments to Queens Park Rangers football team, his worldwide fashion, food and hotel businesses, but it will not force him to quit F1 despite persistent rumours to the contrary.

Ted Macauley is a specialist motorsports writer based in England