Flavio Briatore has ripped into Lewis Hamilton, believing he will again throw away the Formula One world title.

Briatore feels Hamilton will let slip his current five-point lead and allow Ferrari's Felipe Massa to win his maiden crown.

Last season Hamilton held a 17-point cushion over Kimi Raikkonen with two races remaining, and went on to let the crown slip from his grasp.

Briatore is confident there will be a repeat performance as he said: "In my opinion Hamilton will try again to throw away the title.

"He and McLaren were good last year already. To lose it with a 17-point advantage with two races to go is worthy of the Guinness world records.

"If someone gets in the Guinness like that, he can really repeat himself with just a five-point advantage.

"In my opinion Massa will win the title."

After watching Hamilton's crude mistake in Sunday's race in Japan when the McLaren driver forced Kimi Raikkonen off the track with a late braking manoeuvre at the first corner, Briatore believes "he hasn't learned anything".

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, he added: "We saw that in Japan.

"He should be told he is an F1 driver, not a Martian. He is no Muhammad Ali. He is a youngster who still has to show his worth.

"He's a good driver, but the good drivers are also the ones that bring the results home.

"There are good forwards in football who always hit the post or the crossbar, and they just can't score.

"Then there are those who can throw it inside the net, and he is not one of them - for now."

Briatore's rant is unsurprising, however, as he still harbours a degree of bitterness towards McLaren for trying to involve his team in last season's spy storm.

"It's logical for me to root for Ferrari, as an Italian, as Flavio Briatore, and as Renault for the relationship we have with Ferrari," said the 58-year-old.

"McLaren, by contrast, accused us of espionage last season and we went on for four months for a silly thing that didn't exist."