Hamilton to put brakes on

LEWIS HAMILTON has admitted he will modify his approach this season as he looks to put the heartbreaking climax of his debut campaign behind him and claim Formula One world championship glory.

The McLaren driver missed out on becoming the first rookie to win the title last year by the narrowest of margins, as he surrendered a 17-point lead to Kimi Raikkonen in the final two races.

Ferrari’s Finn took the chequered flag in both China and Brazil but he also benefited from errors of judgement on Hamilton’s part to triumph by just a single point.

The 23-year-old pushed too hard in Shanghai when coming in to change worn tyres and ended up in the gravel, while at Interlagos he unnecessarily tried to retake team-mate Fernando Alonso after losing out from the start.

As a result he fell from second on the grid to eighth, although a subsequent gearbox problem ended any lingering hopes of glory.

But Hamilton insists he has learnt from those past experiences and will take a more pragmatic view in 2008.

“If I’m leading the world championship and I’m in first or second position, I won’t be pushing way over the limit to win the race,” he said. “I’ll be conservative and finish with the points.

“I’m chasing the same dream but in a slightly different way.”

Hamilton was fastest in yesterday’s second practice for the Australian Grand Prix after Raikkonen laid down an early marker by heading the first 90-minute session.

The duo are again expected to battle it out for this year’s drivers’ title and Hamilton was happy with his prospects for the season-opener despite posting a slower time than his Ferrari rival around Albert Park.

“There was some good progress and we made best use of the improving track conditions,” he added.

Temperatures once again neared 40C as Melbourne sweltered in conditions that Hamilton believes that could cause teams difficulties during tomorrow’s 58-lap showdown.

“I think it’s going to be challenging,” he said.

“In most of the winter testing we did it was quite cool. Coming here, obviously the climate is quite a bit different, so I think it’s going to make it a bit harder on the tyres but easier to warm up.

“Perhaps we will see more graining but I think everyone’s in the same boat. We just have to try to manage it as well as possible. It’s good preparation for next weekend (in Malaysia).”

Hamilton also underlined that physically he feels in much better shape than at this time last season.

“My preparation is better,” he said. “Last year me and my trainer were both rookies and there were areas we could improve on and we have done.”