Hamilton: McLaren learned Sepang lesson

The former world champion had looked set to challenge for victory in Sepang last year before he was told to wait in the pits early on during wet qualifying - missing the best conditions and leaving him down in 20th on the grid.

With rain again looking like a major possibility for qualifying and the race, Hamilton believes McLaren knows enough not to suffer a similar fate should there be repeat circumstances this year too.

"I think the team have learned their lesson and we have learned the lesson through that experience," explained Hamilton.

"We were one of the quickest throughout practice in the dry. Then we went to qualifying, messed it up and ended up right at the back. So if it looks like it will be last year we will be out immediately to get the laps in - I don't think we will make the same error."

Although McLaren has made improvements to its car for this weekend's Malaysia race, on the back of a better-than-expected start to the season in Australia, Hamilton is under no illusions that Red Bull Racing will likely still have the fastest car.

"I think we have improved the car a little bit once again and I am hoping the gap has closed up a little bit," he said. "But every team is probably doing the same - everyone is always improving.

"So we have to assume that they are coming here with some small improvements. We just have another improvement and hoping that we can close the gap even more. We could have done equally the same or even more, but if we are closer then that is a blessing."

Hamilton also says he is not too worried by the prospect of wet weather this weekend - especially since his car seemed so strong in Australia.

"One thing that is comforting is that I know we have got downforce, which means I will not be struggling as much," he said. "In 2009 I had nothing, and it was aquaplaning like crazy.

"We have generally normally been quite quick in the wet so I feel comfortable either way, although I prefer it to be dry."

He added: "The worrying thing [about the wet] is that we have three sets of extreme, wet tyres, and then the inters aren't a great tyre. They don't last very long.

"So it will be difficult to balance it in the race. If we have to do qualifying in these extreme conditions and do the race on those three sets of tyres, then at some stage you might have to put the inter on and it doesn't disperse that well. It is going to be an interesting situation."