Hamilton confident of better race

Lewis Hamilton put a brave face on his fourth place in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, and believes he can still take the fight to Ferrari in the race.

The British star was out-qualified by new McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, and admitted that he wasn't sure why he had struggled for speed in the crucial final qualifying laps.

"There wasn't really much grip in Q3 for some reason, and I guess I just struggled to find it,"

"Obviously yesterday I went home quite happy, we changed some things today and I'm not really sure if it was the right way to go or not, but we'll see tomorrow."

Felipe Massa took pole position by almost half a second, and Hamilton is curious to see whether the Ferraris chose to run light in order to claim a front row sweep.

"I was a tenth off Heikki, but quite a long way off the Ferraris, so it will be interesting to see what their strategy is," he said.

Hamilton's out-lap had been disrupted by traffic, which he thinks may have hampered his ability to get the McLaren's tyres and brakes up to optimum temperature for his flying lap.

"I wouldn't say it put me off my stride, but finding a gap was very, very tough," he said.

"Warming up your tyres and brakes all comes into the equation, and I'm sure I didn't get the best job done, so we've got to see where we can find some time."

Despite Ferrari's speed, Lewis remains confident that he can fight for victory in the race - pointing out that McLaren turned Ferrari's qualifying advantage around at Sepang a year ago.

"I wouldn't say we're on the back foot, but for sure they've got a very quick car," he said.

"But they did last year, and we took them at the first corner, so we've got to stay positive.

"We've got to get some good points, and I think we can still do that."

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