Zanardi tips Hamilton to bounce back in 2012

Alex Zanardi has tipped Lewis Hamilton to bounce back in 2012 from his troubled past season.

Briton Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, had a disastrous season, struggling with his personal life amid a series of on and off-track incidents and poor form.

But Italian Zanardi, who lost his legs in a Champ Car crash two years after being fired by Williams at the end of 1999, tipped the 26-year-old to fire on all cylinders in 2012.

"What is happening to him this year simply means that he’s human," said the 45-year-old, whose new target is to win an Olympic gold medal for Italy in hand-cycling.

"Even Lewis Hamilton is vulnerable," Zanardi told the Telegraph.

"I mean if at his age what has happened to him had happened to me, I would probably have been in Monte Carlo with the biggest boat, with the gold Rolex watch, looking down at people and asking ’what the hell do you want from me? I’m the best guy on the planet’.

"I had the privilege of interviewing him once for an Italian magazine and I really discovered a guy who is very, very mature for his age. So this tells me that basically he put one foot out of step but I’m sure next year he will have learned his lesson," he added.