Hamilton cautious but confident

After a third-placed finish on his debut in Australia, the McLaren star battled his way to a superb second in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, setting the fastest lap of the race on the way.

"This is Formula One, it's incredibly tough," he said. "You have to take it step by step. This is another stepping stone for me on a steep learning curve and obviously the next step is a win."

But he added: "We have to work together as a team. We are very competitive but we need to keep on pushing.

"I think it's very important the team know we have to keep on pushing to pull away from Ferrari.

"But we are doing a fantastic job and I really hope that at some point I can get a win."

Hamilton now lies third in the drivers' standings, four points behind leader Alonso and just two behind Kimi Raikkonen.

And while the precociously talented youngster had full confidence in his ability to compete at the highest level in Formula One after winning the GP2 series last season, he admitted to being uncertain as to how he would actually fare until he was in the heat of battle.

"I know I'm very strong at racing, so that was not a question for me, but you can't go into a season and predict what's going to happen or to know what to expect," he said. "Testing is one thing, but racing is another thing altogether.

"We did longer stints and race runs in testing, but it's a lot different to actually doing it in a race when you have someone pressurising you and absolutely no room for error."