Lewis Hamilton’s father is backing the Briton to make up for the huge disappointment of missing out on the world drivers’ championship in the final race of the season by going on to win the title in 2008.

Hamilton was denied a fairytale triumph in his rookie year by a single point due to a gearbox malfunction in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old fought his way back through the field to finish seventh, but it was not enough as Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen won the race at Interlagos to snatch the title.

That left Hamilton nursing a hangover yesterday after drowning his sorrows the night before, but the countdown is already on towards 2008, with the Stevenage driver already discounting the remote possibility that this season’s title may still come his way if McLaren win a pending appeal against the legality of three of the cars that finished ahead of them in Brazil.

Expert View

The Hamiltons were so unfailingly upbeat that it was fair to wonder if it was an elaborate façade to hide the most colossal despair

Matt Dickinson

• More

• Post a comment

BACKGROUND

• Hamilton driven to despair in Brazil

• Search for answers gets under way

• Lauda and legends so quick to spot Hamilton greatness

• Champagne on ice after parties crashed

BACKGROUND

• Hamilton ready to overtake Beckham

• The young man will soon have his time

• The Insider - October 22

Multimedia

• Should McLaren win appeal?

Related Links

• Hamilton - no appeal in McLaren stand

• Champagne is left on ice as defeated Briton takes to his sickbed with fever

• Hamilton driven to despair in Brazil

Multimedia

• Should McLaren win appeal?

Hamilton’s father, Anthony, believes Lewis, who led the championship for much of the season, will be an even better driver next year.

“What’s happened this year will make Lewis stronger," he said. "All we have done is prove that as a team, car and driver, we’re here for the future.

“So hell, enjoy your fun now [the other Formula One drivers] because next year there’s going to be a problem, and we’re going to be back at the front.

“Next year he will no longer be a rookie and they are going to be in trouble aren’t they? He can only improve - not unless he finds girls and booze! But that ain’t going to happen.”

Hamilton Snr, much like his son, was still trying to put a brave face on the outcome having been denied the world title at the last.

“We’ve had a great season, finishing second in the drivers’ world championship,” he said. “To be quite honest, if somebody had said to us last year that is what we would do this year then I would have said they’re dreaming.

“We were leading for most of the season, and it was there - just not quite this time, but it’s our first year, so maybe we will do it in the second.

“But we have to be proud of what we’ve done considering all the strife, grief, rubbish we’ve been through this year.

“We’ve learned more in one season as a team and individuals than anybody has ever experienced in this business, and all it’s going to do is make us stronger.”