Hamilton: McLaren has gained ground

Lewis Hamilton is confident that McLaren is in better shape at Sepang than it has been so far this season - but is not sure if it has gained enough on Red Bull and Ferrari

Former world champion Hamilton was fastest in both practice sessions today, and said his car was the best he had ever had in Malaysia.

"It's not been a bad day - I've got a good feeling in the car, probably the best feeling I've had in the car around this circuit," he said.

"Every time I go to a track this year, it always feels like light years better than last time I was there, from what I remember.

"We had a good programme, we stuck to it. Still trying to get a good understanding of the tyres, but generally a good feeling. There are some changes I need to make, but nothing too serious."

Hamilton said his practice performance had not totally convinced him that McLaren would be a pole threat tomorrow.

"You can never be comfortable, so I wouldn't say I was comfortable," he said. "Our qualifying pace hasn't been great in the last two races. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but we have to look up at the weather.

"It appears that we're quite competitive, but we don't know what other people are doing with fuel loads."

He was also unwilling to predict where McLaren stood compared to its main rivals Ferrari and Red Bull.

"I don't know whether we're closer to them, but I definitely feel we've taken a little step forward, which is the aim for every race," said Hamilton.