RENAULT chief Flavio Briatore has reignited the war between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso just days before the new Formula One season roars its engines in Australia.

He suggested the British driver's "ego" got the better of him and cost McLaren the drivers' title.

The championship went to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who won by a single point, thanks to his success in the final race at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The flamboyant 57-year-old Italian still finds time to be Alonso's personal manager despite having Elisabetta Gregoraci, 28, as his latest supermodel conquest.

But Briatore, who had also dated Naomi Campbell, Elle Macpherson, Eva Herzigova and Heidi Klum, admitted that the rivalry between the former teammates made for a good show.

"I think it was great for F1. Without the fighting between Fernando and Hamilton, it was very boring last year," he told The Guardian.

But he believes that Hamilton, who claimed that Alonso taught him how not to behave, lost the chance to learn from a two-time world champion.

"When you are a rookie, you need to take that opportunity. He had the chance to drive with somebody very special in Fernando," Briatore said.

"Hamilton is very young and the talent is there, but he lost this opportunity. As a rookie, in the first year, you should work for the team.

"Your team consists of 1,000 people working together to put two cars on the grid. You need to respect these people behind you - and not only your ego.

"It's not just about him. You hear drivers saying 'my car'. But it is not their car - it is the team car.

"A lot of people are watching you fight while they're working until five in the morning to deliver this car.

"I feel sorry for the employees of McLaren - it was terrible. It was important for McLaren to win the drivers' championship, but they missed the opportunity. Because of this fight, they finished with nothing."

Alonso, now back with Renault, had won the title twice with the French team, before his short-lived stint with McLaren, a British team.

Then, Hamilton's ambitions, despite being a rookie, saw him reject any attempts to make him No 2.

In May's Monaco GP, the Briton, 23, finished second to his teammate, but immediately complained that his team had prevented him from winning by telling him not to overtake.

Then, in qualifying for the Hungarian GP, he ignored a team order to give the Spaniard a clear run. Alonso responded by impeding his teammate and giving him little time to start his final lap.

The end result: Alonso was stripped of pole position.

There have been suggestions that the Spaniard's own ego had got in the way.

But Briatore believes he should have been treated better by McLaren, suggesting the British team may have favoured Hamilton.

"When you want the world champion in your team, and you fight to take him away from Renault," he said, "you then need to protect him when he joins you.

"It was a new environment for him - and Fernando's only other experience has been with Renault. Sometimes, we forget he is only 26.

"What is less normal is when you see Hamilton in pole position and everyone at McLaren is jumping like crazy. If pole was for Fernando, then everyone was like this (Briatore feigned polite applause)."

Meanwhile, Alonso is not entirely happy with Renault's new car.

Said Briatore: "Yes, it is too slow for him. In 2006, with Fernando, we won the title but neglected the development of the new car.

"Now Fernando is talking about us having a 20-30 per cent chance for the championship. I think it's about 20 per cent.

"We can't recover everything in three months, but we hope to be fighting and winning races by the middle of the season."

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Mar 12, 2008.