Hamilton wary of Red Bull speed

Former world champion Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull will be the team to beat in Melbourne this weekend as the cars are "ridiculously faster" than anyone else on the grid.

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, finished third in the season-opening grand prix in Bahrain, edging out Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who finished fourth, and Mark Webber, who was eighth.

But Hamilton, who profited from Vettel's spark plug problem in Bahrain, said: "The Red Bull is ridiculously faster than anyone else's car. It's insane."

He added: "The downforce they had on their car last year was at some points just about double what we had. Even at the end of the year, they had so much more than us, even though we had won a couple of grands prix."

However, the 25-year-old is confident the McLaren set-up will be suited to Melbourne, where he won in 2008.

"I'm looking forward to Melbourne. I like the circuit, I think we'll go well there and I don't think we'll have the same problems that slowed our progress in Bahrain," he added.

"I've always enjoyed Albert Park. I had a great race here on my Formula One debut in 2007, won the race a year later and made full use of KERS to drive through the field there last year.

"But, for me, the best things about the Australian Grand Prix are the people and the atmosphere. The fans in the grandstands, the people in the city and the organisation at the track are all fantastic, and it is one of the most welcoming and relaxing events of the year. I really love it."

Team-mate and current world champion Jenson Button agreed that much had been learned from the MP4-25's first serious outing in the Middle East.

"We learned some very useful lessons about MP4-25 in the opening race and the whole team is keen to put them into practice this weekend," he said.