Hamilton not expecting title in 2006

Hamilton, who dominated the F3 Euroseries title last season winning 15 out 20 races, has replaced Williams driver Nico Rosberg at champions ART this season.

McLaren-backed Hamilton has been quick in pre-season testing.

However, he says he is up against a spate of quick drivers with experience of the formula, such as teammate Alex Premat and Piquet Sport's Nelson Piquet Jr, and won't necessarily walk to the title like last year.

"I will be satisfied with a top three championship," Hamilton told autosport.com. "I think that would be good. Obviously I always set my goals high so I aim to reach them. This is the strongest field I've ever raced against. I'm not expecting to be champion this year, and I don't feel there is any pressure for me to be champion.

"I think I'm more laid back this season. It is my first year in GP2 and it is not like Alex [Premat] and some other guys who are second year drivers and have a bit more pressure on themselves.

"I'm not going to be too hard on myself. When you are in a second season, like I was in Formula Three there is more pressure and you have to do it.

"But that said I'm a racing driver and I'm here to win. I do not feel I'm that far behind the others in experience terms. In single-seaters all the experience is relevant and counts.

"I think I have performed well in testing but I've been working very hard, with the engineers and trying to learn. So far I've been learning well."

This year's GP2 season begins with a stand-alone event in Valencia this weekend, before it joins the European Formula One races as a supporting category. Hamilton was quickest overall in the first day of official testing at the circuit, yesterday.

"I hope that this weekend myself and the team can qualify well and I'll work hard," he added. "Yesterday we had a problem with the afternoon session and we had to change the engine, which meant we lost two hours, which was a shame.

"But I set my quick lap in the morning session, which was at a similar time to when qualifying happens on Saturday, so it bodes well.

"It has been a long pre-season but I haven't had as much time in the car as people think - just ten days. It is not going to be easy and there are new things because it is different category such as pitstop and starts.

"In terms of learning how to use the tyres in between pitstops it has been hard to do any long runs on the tyres because there have been so many red flags, so that will be different. I learnt how to conserve tyres in Formula Three."