Hamilton: McLaren will learn from Oz

The former world champion openly questioned during the Melbourne race why he had been asked to make a second stop for dry tyres - and afterwards said the team had blown a 1-2 finish because of it.

Having had time to sit down with the team and discuss the matter since the race, however, Hamilton is calmer about what happened - and thinks he and the team will take on board the events to make themselves stronger in the future.

"I think the situation is understood," he said in Malaysia. "We sat down together afterwards. I went back to the garage and was happy for the guys. To see them all in the red [victory] t-shirts was a great feeling.

"Whether I win or my team-mate wins it is a great feeling, because that is what we worked so hard to get.

"It is the one special thing the team gets to experience during a race weekend. We enjoy that and, of course, we were all feeling it - my engineers - but we are making split second decisions and we are also still trying to understand how long these tyres will last with this non-refuelling. I don't think we thought the tyres would last that long.

"For me, I am so passionate about the racing. My heart was seriously so into it, and my adrenaline sky-rocketed. I had just been taken out by another car, so you don't always say the right things when you get out.

"After sitting down with the guys in the garage, I had a good understanding of why we did it. And from that experience, we will definitely take it forward for the next race and future races."

Hamilton confessed that part of his frustration about what happened in Australia was because he had been hit by Mark Webber late on in the race.

"I think to have finished would have been fine," he said. "The most frustrating part was being taken out. It is like climbing a ladder and then slipping a couple of steps after you have worked so hard to get to that point. That is all. That was the feeling - but it is motor racing and that is why motor racing is so exciting."

And although he did not get the result he was after, Hamilton thinks the confidence that came from his stirring performance in the race has left him upbeat about delivering his first win of the season soon.

"I do feel at some stage that I will get my chance to win races - and we are only two races into the season," he said. "I think the pace showed that I definitely had the pace in the race at least, as quick as the front guys - but definitely having a race like that lifts you up after a tough weekend overall. It definitely lifts you up - and gives you that confidence that you are still there again."