Hamilton aims to 'keep moving forward'

Former Champion Lewis Hamilton believes his third-place finish at the season-opening Bahrain GP has given him the impetus to perform even better at this weekend's race in Australia.

The 25-year-old made a solid start to the 2010 campaign with a battling drive to claim a place on the podium earlier this month while team-mate and reigning World Champion Jenson Button secured seventh place on his McLaren debut.

Both drivers have tasted success on the Albert Park circuit before with their victories preceding a World Championship winning season as Hamilton won in 2008 while Button claimed an emotional win here in his first race for former team Brawn GP.

Hamilton lost ground on the opening lap in Manama earlier this month after locking up at turn four but he admitted finishing third has given him the drive and determination to perform even better this weekend.

"In general you shouldn't be happy with anything but first, but I was so proud of the team for what we did (in Bahrain)," he said.

"Clearly I want to keep moving forward but if you win the first race, where do you go from there? So I'm kind of happy we got third. We can move forward.

"Confidence is something you build on. I don't want to come here and say 'yeah we're going to win'. I feel confident, I have a great strong team behind me and Jenson goes well here in Australia. So I'm confident we can go better.

"We will be looking at winning rather than coming third. Bit by bit we will look at improving and growing with the car. We've learned a lot from the first race and we can bring that here to Melbourne."

Hamilton's hunger for victories has also been increased by the arrival of Button at McLaren.

The last time the Stevenage man was paired alongside a World Champion was with Fernando Alonso in his debut season and it proved a fractious relationship.

But Hamilton is adamant things are different with his fellow Briton and believes it will provide a positive kind of competitiveness this season.

"I've had different experiences with different team-mates," he added. "Some you have an aggressive tension between, where clearly you want to beat each other. You always want to beat each other.

"But with Jenson we are more just chilled friends outside of the car. Of course we want to beat each other but we are professionals. We know once the other one alongside you does well, it makes you pull your socks up.

"But there is a good feeling in the team. I feel privileged. I have a World Champion alongside me."

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