hamilton

The British McLaren driver, however, reckons Red Bull, plus Lotus, Mercedes and Ferrari are looking strong.

“I’m not expecting anything,” Hamilton told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

“I would like that to be the case [to win] but we can’t expect anything. Whatever the case we’re going to be working as hard as we can to get to the top and do the best with what we have.”

He added: I really, really don’t know. When I look at all the data on long runs it looks like we are in the top three or four, in terms of our long run pace and our degradation.

“Again, I’ve not been on low fuel so I’m not sure if the others were or not. We’ll find out most probably on Saturday but I’m expecting Lotus to be quite quick and I’m expecting Red Bull to be quick and I have a feeling Mercedes will be very fast and also Ferrari.”

The Briton also expressed his belief that race strategies will not change at all this year, despite the introduction of new tyres that some of his rivals are expecting to offer more varied ways to go about the races.

“I think it’ll be exactly the same. That’s my opinion, but I might be wrong. I guess we’ll find out. I think it’ll be very much the same. I mean, in the long runs we were very similar to last year so I don’t feel there will be any difference.”

The McLaren driver endured a season full of ups and down in 2011 but says he is now in a happy place and ready to fight back.

“I’m happy to be here, and I still feel quite privileged to be here in F1, even seven years on, it’s my sixth year in F1 and I’m still one of the very few drivers in the world that gets to do this job and it’s just that I’m constantly having to pinch myself that I’m still here.

“Still living my dream and doing what I love doing. I’m very happy and in a good place.”