Hamilton vows to never give up

The Briton came from the back of the grid to take a surprise podium finish in Melbourne, having come into the weekend thinking that simply scoring points would be a good enough result.

And although McLaren concedes that it may not be able to fight for victory on pure pace for a few races yet, Hamilton says the Melbourne performance has convinced him that he must keep putting in the maximum effort.

"I learnt to never, ever, ever, give up," Hamilton wrote on his website about the experience of the Australian Grand Prix. "We showed in Brazil last year that we would always fight until the very end, and we showed it again in Melbourne yesterday.

"I'll never give up when I'm in the cockpit - I want to race as hard as I can and I'm looking forward to getting closer to the front and mixing it with the leaders again. Also, Melbourne gave us a clearer idea of which teams have done the best job over the winter."

Hamilton also confessed that finishing on the podium in Australia was one of the biggest surprises he has had in F1.

"It was one of the most unexpected results of my Formula 1 career and, yeah, I think it was one of my best drives too," he said. "I'm a fighter, I've never given up at any stage of my motorsport career - both on and off the track - and last weekend was the same.

"I pushed like crazy on every single lap of the race, always looked for the gap and worked with the team over the radio to find every possible way of making us go quicker. This was a fantastic result for me, but also a brilliant team effort - our strategy was perfect, the input from the pitwall was superb and everything came together really well.

"On paper, the result may not look as strong as our victories, but to come from 18th on the grid to finish third, in a car that we admit is not as good as it should be, is a mega achievement."

Hamilton remains totally convinced that McLaren can put the work in to lift itself back into contention for wins.

"We haven't forgotten how to win," he said. "We're a world-class team, in fact, and while we're not yet at the front, everything within the McLaren Technology Centre is equipped to help us get back there as quickly as possible.

"From the strategists, the manufacturing capacity, the management, the mechanics - everybody has what it takes to win grands prix and world championships. That's why I'm so confident that we'll get back to the front soon.

"I think Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is the strongest team in Formula 1 - and I know just how hard we are focusing on improving MP4-24. That's why I feel so confident that our performance will improve."