Rubens Barrichello is confident
Lewis Hamilton will win the
Formula 1 World Championship, despite the Briton narrowly missing out on lifting the laurels at the end of his astonishing maiden campaign in the top flight last year.
Hamilton went into the final two grands prix of 2007 with a comfortable advantage in the drivers' standings, but a combination of bad luck, poor timing and misjudgement saw him lose out on the title by just a single point to
Ferrari's
Kimi Raikkonen in Brazil. Barrichello is convinced it will be far from his only opportunity to claim the crown.
“I think he's a great driver,” the Honda star asserted, “and I'm a fan of his. When I had my first year in Formula 1 I was in a bad car and had to live with that; he was in a good car, but he coped well with the expectations.
“Obviously we think he could have been champion if it wasn't for this or that, but I just think the guy is superb and he's going to be a champion soon.”
As to
Honda's ‘Earth Dreams' concept for 2008 – an evolution of the ‘My Earth Dreams' theme the Japanese manufacturer embraced last year – the 35-year-old
F1 veteran said it sent out a strong message that promises on global warming and saving the environment need to be backed up by actions.
“We always tend to leave things to somebody else to do,” Barrichello acknowledged, “but with this programme I've learned so much about the small things that can be done to help.
“I think this year what's most important is not awareness but action; we have taken a step forward and we are doing more things to help the planet which is good.”
