Hamilton not ruling out title

The Briton has become the first driver to finish on the podium in his first three races, something that will allow him to start to the European season on top of the championship standings.

He is tied with teammate Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on 22 points.

Hamilton believes that as long as McLaren stay competitive, he should have a chance of fighting for the title.

"You have to have the belief that you can succeed in order to ensure you have the commitment, that is true for anything in any walk of life," said Hamilton.

"So long as we continue having one of the leading cars and McLaren Mercedes continues being one of the top two teams then there is no reason why we can't challenge for the constructors' and drivers' titles.

"We need to keep what we have, we need to work on the reliability of the car and make sure we don't have any DNFs and focus on pushing forward performance."

The 22-year-old, last year's GP2 champion, insists he never expected to enjoy such a strong debut.

"No, definitely not," he added. "Going into your first season you don't expect to be joint leading the drivers' championship. It was only last year I was watching the Grands Prix, it is unreal.

"It is also very cool and I am enjoying it, it shows our true pace and I hope that I can continue to score points and build on the start to the season."

McLaren will arrive at the Spanish Grand Prix leading both championships, and Alonso also admits the team's strong results have come as a surprise.

"No one expected to be in this situation coming to the first European race," Alonso said. " For me it is also good as I have been in this position coming into Spain in 2005 and 2006, and now in 2007 after moving team and after a lot of expectations.

"So three years in a row we have arrived at my home Grand Prix leading both the championships. Hopefully it will not be the last, and we will do the same next year for the fourth time."