A former Formula 1 world champion has spoken about his ‘upset’ over Lewis Hamilton’s treatment as he admits the Briton is in his dream position

A former Formula 1 world champion has spoken about his “upset” over Lewis Hamilton’s treatment as he admitted the legendary Briton is in the dream position some of the sport’s greats never got.

Hamilton, 41, holds the joint-highest amount of World Championship wins, tied with Michael Schumacher on seven, but he ditched the most successful driver-team partnership in the sport’s history at Mercedes to chase a fabled eighth title with Ferrari.

The Prancing Horse have now gone two decades without winning a World Championship, unthinkable for the most famous racing team, and Hamilton’s task of ending that wait has gone through multiple low moments.

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Hamilton is the most scrutinised driver on the grid, and that pressure is only heightened at Ferrari, leading to numerous team disagreements over the radio and frustrated interviews often overshadowing entire race weekends.

Speaking to Betway, two-time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi defended Hamilton’s move and motivation, arguing the Brit has jumped at the oppiruntiy he and fellow champions could only dream of.

The 1972 and 1974 world champion said: “Last year, I was quite upset when people were criticising Lewis Hamilton’s move.

“Every driver—myself, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet—dreams of driving for Ferrari one day. Lewis has achieved everything there is to achieve with seven World Championships. When he had the offer to go to Ferrari, it was great for him to accept a new challenge.

“Last year was about learning the team, and this year he shows he's still extremely competitive.

“Ferrari and Fred Vasseur have a very good organisation. They make strategic mistakes like any other team as they and Lewis did at the weekend, but Ferrari is competitive now, and Lewis is running strong and showing his talent. I am very happy to see that.”

Hamilton has spoken about his dream of ending Ferrari’s 20-year drought without a World Championship, and putting the cherry on the icing on the cake of his career.

Fittipaldi believes that the Briton could be set up in a perfect position to end that wait and add a record eighth world title.

He said: “Next year Ferrari have a good chance of winning the championship, no doubt. Even Leclerc showed it; they are able to keep the tyres surviving longer than before.

“They still need to improve the car on all tyre compounds, but they are working on that for sure.”