Hamilton predicts Ferrari fightback

"I expect them to be as strong as they were last weekend, but perhaps without the problems they had and everything else," Hamilton told reporters in Malaysia.

The Italian squad endured a miserable weekend in Melbourne, suffering problems both in qualifying and in the race, with both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa retiring with engine problems.

"Hopefully they will have a better weekend, I don't think they can have much of a worse weekend than they did last weekend," added Hamilton. "I am sure they will recover and do a better job this weekend.

"They were quite strong here last year as well, especially during a race. So we have to watch out for them."

Hamilton took a commanding victory in Australia, just one year after his Formula One debut.

The Briton admitted it was a perfect start to the year, but he was sorry teammate Heikki Kovalainen lost out to the safety car rules and had to settle for fifth place.

"It was a perfect start, absolutely," he added. "Actually, it wasn't a perfect style - we would have liked a 1-2, but it was as close to perfect as we could get it. It would have been great for Heikki and me to get a 1-2.

"I watched some of the replay footage and he did some great manoeuvres and had a great race back there. It is a shame with the rules that it makes it a little bit difficult, it is a bit of a gamble when the safety car comes out, but that is racing."

Hamilton expects the race situation to be quite different in Sepang this weekend, but the McLaren driver admits his aim remains the same.

"It should be a little bit different. Last year we saw the ambient temperature and the humidity made it a lot harder for the drivers, but it is also a lot more demanding on the car and tyres.

"Having a hot race last weekend at the moment it seems to be quite cool, and looks like it may be raining this weekend, so I guess it will be a slightly difficult weekend but at the end of the day we are here to win."