Season begins next weekend - Mar 15,16 - Australia
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Hamilton upbeat ahead of the new F1 season
Lewis Hamilton is upbeat about McLaren's chances of success this season, claiming the MP4-23 is quick enough to win the World titles.
Hamilton has been on the pace throughout pre-season testing, challenging main rivals Ferrari for the top spot on the timesheets.
However, in the final outing at Barcelona it was the McLaren driver who took control, finishing P1 on two of the last three days of testing.
It was an encouraging end to testing for the Woking team, although Hamilton concedes McLaren won't really know where they stand until the first race of the season in Australia.
"We have a good car. We are in a similar position to where we were last year, where we also had very good pace," he told the official F1 website.
"In testing everybody is doing something different so it's only when we get to the first race where we will see the real pace of ourselves and our competitors, but I'm confident we will be ready."
He added: "I am extremely comfortable with our 2008 package and look forward to the first three races.
"Naturally, we will have further developments throughout the season but I think we have a great car, a great team and a great will to win so it will be interesting to see what develops."
Asked which team he believes will come out on top this season, the McLaren driver simply said: "We will have to wait and see."
However, one thing he is willing to predict is that his relationship with new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen will be a lot smoother than his relationship with 2007 team-mate Fernando Alonso.
"Heikki and I get on really well. We have known each other for a few years," the 23-year-old Brit said.
"We are both in our second year of Formula One and both of us want to win races and be World Champion and do the best job we can for ourselves and for the team.
"The chemistry is good and we have a laugh, but at end of day we are competitors as well so we will be fighting hard."
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Hamilton upbeat ahead of the new F1 season
Lewis Hamilton is upbeat about McLaren's chances of success this season, claiming the MP4-23 is quick enough to win the World titles.
Hamilton has been on the pace throughout pre-season testing, challenging main rivals Ferrari for the top spot on the timesheets.
However, in the final outing at Barcelona it was the McLaren driver who took control, finishing P1 on two of the last three days of testing.
It was an encouraging end to testing for the Woking team, although Hamilton concedes McLaren won't really know where they stand until the first race of the season in Australia.
"We have a good car. We are in a similar position to where we were last year, where we also had very good pace," he told the official F1 website.
"In testing everybody is doing something different so it's only when we get to the first race where we will see the real pace of ourselves and our competitors, but I'm confident we will be ready."
He added: "I am extremely comfortable with our 2008 package and look forward to the first three races.
"Naturally, we will have further developments throughout the season but I think we have a great car, a great team and a great will to win so it will be interesting to see what develops."
Asked which team he believes will come out on top this season, the McLaren driver simply said: "We will have to wait and see."
However, one thing he is willing to predict is that his relationship with new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen will be a lot smoother than his relationship with 2007 team-mate Fernando Alonso.
"Heikki and I get on really well. We have known each other for a few years," the 23-year-old Brit said.
"We are both in our second year of Formula One and both of us want to win races and be World Champion and do the best job we can for ourselves and for the team.
"The chemistry is good and we have a laugh, but at end of day we are competitors as well so we will be fighting hard."