After finishing sixth in last weekend’s Australian grand Prix after what many will describe as the drive of his life, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton is aiming for another competitive race this weekend at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

“Sepang has some of the best high-speed corners on the entire calendar. And, this year, I think we’ve got a car that will be far better suited to the circuit than we did last year, so I’m heading to Malaysia optimistic of a good result,” he said.

“It’s a fast circuit, that requires a well-balanced car with a good level of downforce. In some ways, it’s quite similar to Barcelona, where we tested well before the start of the season, so I’m optimistic that we’ll be competitive this weekend. However, I still think it might be difficult to make up the difference that’s needed in qualifying. Hopefully, that’s something that we’ll be able to solve as soon as possible.”

Last year’s event here was stopped half way due to extremely heavy rain and while the Australian event was made that little bit more exciting due to the rainfall just before the start of the rain, Lewis is hoping that this year’s event will be held in the dry.

“Last year we saw what could happen here once the weather took over. While I’m hopeful that this year’s race will be run in the dry, you can never discount the threat of rain. Either way, I think we’ll be competitive.”