Coast is clear for Hamilton after clearing 'load of bricks'

That is not a coded reference to his truculent former team-mate Fernando Alonso, but a graphic admission of how the Spygate controversy is no longer weighing him down.

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'We have less baggage, a clean slate,' said Hamilton, whose McLaren team were fined £50million and thrown out of last season's constructors' championship for pinching Ferrari technical secrets.

'It was like running the marathon with loads of bricks in your bags. But we don't have that this year.'

In fact, Spygate meanders on in the background courtesy of the Italian courts, though the other bane of his rookie season, Alonso, is firmly out of the picture — in a Renault short of championship pace.

Hamilton came alongside the Spaniard on Thursday ahead of Sunday's opening grand prix in Melbourne, with Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen sitting like a barrier between them at the press conference.

However, there was minimal verbal jousting between the former civil war wagers. Neither wanted to get drawn into Renault boss Flavio Briatore's assertion that Hamilton did not show enough respect to his double world champion during their brief 'partnership'.

Alonso had not read Briatore's broadside, so could not possibly comment. Hamilton was marginally more forthcoming, saying: 'He has a right to his own opinion. It doesn't bother me.'

Instead, Hamilton was more engaged by relations with his new sidekick, Heikki Kovalainen. 'He always takes time to say hello and there's no tension. It just flows.'

Let us think back a year to Hamilton and Alonso's similar love-in, before they plunged Anglo-Spanish relations to their lowest ebb since the Armada set sail. Is there not a worrying sense of deja vu?

'I don't know it will be different,' Hamilton said. 'But we do know how to avoid certain problems from last year. I don't think anyone wants to revisit that experience.'

You suspect McLaren have the right man in 26-year-old Kovalainen: good enough to score regular points but not quick enough often enough to destabilise Hamilton's position as first among equals, given his long association with the Woking-based team.

But the Stevenage-born racer said: 'Heikki is getting every opportunity I am. But I work damn hard and it is going to be difficult for any driver who comes in because of that.'

Raikkonen, Hamilton's chief rival for the title, was at his eloquent best yesterday. His responses to 18 questions rarely bettered such Churchillian flourishes as: 'We should be in a strong position, but it's too early to say.'

Raikkonen's most amusing exchange came when asked: 'Binge drinking is a topical issue in Australia. You are renowned for liking a drink. How do you manage that with the demands of being an F1 driver?'

'I live the way I have always been living,' he said. 'I like going out sometimes, so I don't see any problem with that.'

With that, the world champion continued his preparations for the Australian Grand Prix.