• Australian Grand Prix

Hamilton bullish ahead of qualifying

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on Friday © Getty Images

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• News:
• McLarens set the pace in the rain
  

• Race:
• Australian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to a competitive qualifying session at the Australian Grand Prix, in which he expects to be able to challenge Red Bull and Ferrari.

Hamilton qualified fourth at the first race of the season in Bahrain, but was off the pace of the leading two teams. Since then his McLaren team has been working furiously to improve the MP4-25's one-lap pace, and after setting the fastest time in practice on Friday, Hamilton is confident he will be closer to the Bahrain front runners this weekend.

"I definitely think we've made some improvements to our pace compared with Bahrain and the feeling over one lap is better for us," he said. "That's what we've been trying to work on since the first race, and I feel more confident that, going into qualifying, we'll be able to attack the guys who were at the front two weeks ago."

The amount of useful running time on Friday was restricted by a dirty track in the morning and light rain in the afternoon. Nevertheless, Hamilton is confident he has got the best out of his car's set-up ahead of Saturday's final practice session and qualifying.

"Despite this afternoon's wet weather, we went out early in the second session when it was still dry and got some good running under our belts in order to see how some of the changes we'd made between the sessions felt," Hamilton said. "We're feeling positive. We'd hoped to evaluate some further changes at the end of P2, but the track still wasn't up to full speed. Nevertheless, we feel quite comfortable with the balance of the car. I actually feel very relaxed: I've got a car that probably feels better than I've ever had at this track, so that's a major positive."

His team-mate Jenson Button, who qualified eighth in Bahrain, said he felt there had been a marked improvement in the MP4-25's one-lap pace too.

"I'm reasonably pleased with the balance, and it's just got better throughout the day. I've been happy since lap one this morning," Button said. "It's only Friday, and we may be lighter than some of the quick cars out there, but tomorrow we'll see where we actually stand. Nevertheless, it's important for us to find a good balance and get a good feeling with the car.

"We've just been trying to continually tweak the balance of the car, but it's been tough because of the conditions and the traffic out on the circuit. Every time I've tried to put a good lap in on a new set of tyres, I've hit traffic. But we'll make the best of it for tomorrow. For qualifying, the car should feel better than it did in Bahrain: it feels like we have the correct downforce level for this circuit. Both tyre compounds are working well too, so it's all positive."

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