Hamburg - Lewis Hamilton is playing down the chances of replicating the third-place finish he achieved in Sunday's season- opening Formula One race in Australia in this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.

"Firstly, we shouldnt get carried away by our podium in Australia. Yes, we had a fantastic race but were all aware that our car isnt capable of repeating that sort of performance on sheer pace alone," said the defending world champion in a statement on the McLaren-Mercedes team website.

Hamilton started from 18th on the grid Sunday at the Albert Park circuit but eventually finished the race in third after the original third-place finisher Jarno Trulli in a Toyota received a 25-second penalty for overtaking in a late safety phase.

Jenson Button of Brawn GP won the race in Melbourne, followed by team-mate Rubens Barrichello, and Hamilton doesn't believe McLaren have what it takes to challenge the Honda successor this weekend.

"Sepang is one of the tougher tracks on the calendar, one where we will probably be further from the frontrunners than we were in Albert Park," he said.

"The track is both fast and technical so requires good mechanical and aero grip. Its much more aero-dependent and rear-limited than Melbourne so it may highlight some of the shortcomings in MP4-24.

"Nevertheless, were all really encouraged by the progress weve made and I know well be pushing as hard as ever to put more points on the board in Sepang."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh echoed Hamilton's sentiments, saying that the Malaysian GP was "unlikely to offer a significant improvement" in the team's fortunes.

"We are still pushing to introduce performance to the car - the close proximity to the opening race means there wont be many large changes to the car but there will be several upgrades to existing components," said Whitmarsh.

"For us, the mission is clear: we must introduce lap-time to our car faster than our rivals to enable us to, firstly, catch the leading runners and then to be able to compete against them. Its a task we takHamburg (dpa) - Lewis Hamilton is playing down the chances of replicating the third-place finish he achieved in Sunday's season- opening Formula One race in Australia in this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.

"Firstly, we shouldnt get carried away by our podium in Australia. Yes, we had a fantastic race but were all aware that our car isnt capable of repeating that sort of performance on sheer pace alone," said the defending world champion in a statement on the McLaren-Mercedes team website.

Hamilton started from 18th on the grid Sunday at the Albert Park circuit but eventually finished the race in third after the original third-place finisher Jarno Trulli in a Toyota received a 25-second penalty for overtaking in a late safety phase.

Jenson Button of Brawn GP won the race in Melbourne, followed by team-mate Rubens Barrichello, and Hamilton doesn't believe McLaren have what it takes to challenge the Honda successor this weekend.

"Sepang is one of the tougher tracks on the calendar, one where we will probably be further from the frontrunners than we were in Albert Park," he said.

"The track is both fast and technical so requires good mechanical and aero grip. Its much more aero-dependent and rear-limited than Melbourne so it may highlight some of the shortcomings in MP4-24.

"Nevertheless, were all really encouraged by the progress weve made and I know well be pushing as hard as ever to put more points on the board in Sepang."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh echoed Hamilton's sentiments, saying that the Malaysian GP was "unlikely to offer a significant improvement" in the team's fortunes.

"We are still pushing to introduce performance to the car - the close proximity to the opening race means there wont be many large changes to the car but there will be several upgrades to existing components," said Whitmarsh.

"For us, the mission is clear: we must introduce lap-time to our car faster than our rivals to enable us to, firstly, catch the leading runners and then to be able to compete against them. Its a task we take incredibly seriously and are confident that progress will be made sooner rather than later." 9dpa)