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SINGAPORE : World champion Lewis Hamilton believes the disgraced Nelson Piquet junior could return to Formula One despite his part in the Singapore race-fix scandal.
On the orders of Renault, the Brazilian deliberately crashed his car here during the sport's inaugural night race last year, opening the door for team-mate Fernando Alonso to win.
The scandal led to the downfall of team principal Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds, but as the "whistleblower," Piquet, who was sacked by Renault in July, was given immunity.
Despite his reputation being in ruins, the 24-year-old has apologised and made clear he wants to return to the grid.
Hamilton said it could happen.
"He's a good driver and he's had a great career, so who knows?" said the Briton during a McLaren Mercedes phone-in.
"For sure, there are opportunities for him in the future and I can only wish him the best."
Hamilton has had his own share of bad publicity, but he added that he could not understand how Piquet was feeling right now.
"Not really because I've never gone through what he's going through," he said.
"But he's still very young, he's experienced and he'll take it in his stride."
Meanwhile, any hope Hamilton had of defending his title has vanished with a difficult first half of the year when the McLaren was not competitive.
Since then he has picked up points, including a win in Hungary, and he said he would always push 100 percent for victory, even it meant mishaps such as that in Italy this month when he crashed on the last lap.
"I think it's just part of my character and who I am," he said.
"I've just always had it, in whatever I've done, especially when it's competing. I've always had this something inside of me that I want to win. A will. And it just keeps me going."
- AFP/ir
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