Hamilton warns against optimism

Hamilton produced a rousing drive on his Formula One bow just over two weeks ago in Australia, finishing on the podium behind winner Kimi Raikkonen and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso.

But the rising McLaren star is determined to put the situation into perspective as he said: "It was a dream start for me in Australia but I am realistic that motorsport is unpredictable and things don't always go so well."

He added: "We have all been working to reduce the gap to Ferrari and I will do my best with Fernando and the team towards this in Malaysia."

After spending a few days acclimatising to the heat and humidity that Malaysia provides on the Thai island of Koh Samui following the race in Melbourne, Hamilton sampled the Sepang track during a four-day test session last week.

Hamilton topped the unofficial timesheets on the third day before a torrential downpour brought an early end to proceedings.

But his time at the wheel was invaluable, and he added: "From what I had seen of the track before arriving for the test I thought it looked like a great circuit and I was not disappointed.

"Its' layout means you can build up a great rhythm, with all the corners running into each other.

"It is also really wide, which I imagine will lead to exciting racing.

"But the four days of testing were really useful on two counts in that we had a number of developments to the car that we ran and will bring to the race, and I was able to learn the track."