Hamilton eyes glory in Melbourne

LEWIS HAMILTON is confident he can get his world championship bid off to the perfect start when he returns to the scene of his stunning Formula One debut this weekend.

Hamilton finished an impressive third in his first Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne 12 months ago but it was an audacious overtaking move around the outside of then defending champion and McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso in the first corner that really caught the eye.

The 23-year-old went on to enjoy the most successful season by a rookie in the history of the sport, claiming four wins and eventually missing out on the driver’s title to Kimi Raikkonen by just two points.

And Hamilton fully believes he can improve on last year’s result after 58 laps of racing on Sunday despite this only being his second visit to the circuit.

“I feel we have a better opportunity this weekend than we did last year at this time,” he said.

“Going into this weekend I feel even more positive.”

The departure of Alonso to Renault has seen Hamilton take more of a leading role regarding the development of the 2008 McLaren and he has relished the extra responsibility.

“We’ve been working very, very hard through winter making sure the training’s even better but also preparing the car,” he added.

“Seeing a new car evolve, seeing the evolution of last year’s car, and seeing the input by me and Heikki and Pedro (de la Rosa) and Gary (Paffett), and seeing how we can help push the team forward I think is really special, it’s a great experience.”

Hamilton announced himself on the Formula One scene by overshadowing the more illustrious Alonso in Melbourne, a trend that continued throughout the season and eventually led to an irreparable breakdown in their working relationship.

And the man from Stevenage believes overtaking the Spaniard convinced him he had the ability to compete in motorsport’s top tier.

“If you look at last year’s race, the first race, I wasn’t really nervous but everyone sort of expected me to fail, I started fourth and was going to come out of turn one in about eighth place if I didn’t do something about it,” he said.

“I made a real split decision, it was right there and then I had to make the quickest decision ever.

“I went down the outside, I managed to come out in third place and I think that was one of the fastest moments of the year.”

Hamilton also revealed victory at the Canadian Grand Prix was his personal highlight of an impressive 2007 after the McLaren driver admitted he did not even expect to win a race.

While many would remember him sweeping around the outside of Alonso in Melbourne or the incredible victory at the Fuji Speedway in Japan during torrential rain, Hamilton insisted his maiden victory in Montreal gave him the greatest satisfaction last year.

“Of course the first race here in Melbourne was probably one of the best because I didn’t know what to expect and nobody else knew what to expect,” he said.

“I came here, I nearly finished second, I got a third place and my first podium and it continued after that.

“But getting my first win, I never really expected to get a win in my first year.

“To have a pole position, that was just an unreal feeling, but to get the race as well, especially after there was so many safety cars all over the place — I just managed to keep it out of the wall — and to come home with it was the best thing ever.”