Hamilton unfazed by Massa's warning

The Ferrari driver, on pole for the second race in a row, said after grabbing the top spot in qualifying today that he planned to give Hamilton no room at the start after the Briton jumped ahead of him in Malaysia last Sunday.

Massa was unable to keep the McLaren driver behind at the start and then made a mistake when trying to pass him, leading to an "off" that dropped him down to fifth position.

The Brazilian said he was planning to leave no space tomorrow, but Hamilton, on the front row for the first time, admits he is not intimidated by Massa's comments.

"I don't think it is intimidating," Hamilton told reporters in Bahrain. "I think for sure he is attempting to play some mind game, but it makes no difference to me. I know what I need to do at the first corner. For sure you have to be aware.

"If he is going to be a little bit more aggressive it could be dangerous, so you have to be careful. I want to make the first lap and score as many points as I can.

"I will still go in as aggressive as I always go, but I will definitely be watching out to make sure that him being aggressive doesn't cause me or Fernando any problems."

Hamilton, looking to become the first driver in F1 history to score three podiums in his first three races, believes McLaren have closed the gap to Ferrari since the teams tested in Bahrain last month, although he is not sure his squad will be able to match the Italians over a race distance.

"I think when we tested here, Ferrari were definitely slightly quicker - especially on the long runs," he added. "I think we definitely had the pace to keep with them on a single lap but we didn't have the pace for longer runs. They were able to do better times towards the end of their runs.

"But I think we will see the difference. For sure we are more competitive here. We have definitely closed the gap, but that is part of the team working extremely hard. And also us doing a great job with the team."