Lewis Hamilton puts 'lie-gate' behind him as he and Jenson Button gel

An older, wiser Lewis Hamilton now views last season's 'lie-gate' scandal as nothing more than "a stepping stone" in his life. It is almost a year since Hamilton was caught lying to stewards following the curtain-raising 2009 Australian Grand Prix. After starting 18th and last on the Melbourne grid in a woeful McLaren, the 25-year-old drove brilliantly to finish fourth. Immediately after the race Hamilton was promoted to third after Jarno Trulli, then with Toyota, was penalised for passing him under the safety car. However, Hamilton was ultimately disqualified after the stewards decided he and McLaren had provided misleading evidence relating to the incident. A few days later Hamilton apologised, and has since revealed the affair led to him considering his future in the sport. Approaching the anniversary of one of the turning points of his life, Hamilton said: "I've always had great experiences here [in Melbourne] and so I don't look at last year's experience as a bad one. I look at it as a stepping stone in my life, something I learned a whole lot from. "Every time I've come here, my first year in Melbourne I got a podium position in my first grand prix, and then in 2008 I came here and I won. Last year, don't forget I had a great race. I came from dead last on the grid up to fourth place. So it was still a good experience." Last year Hamilton was hindered by his car and found the going tougher than in his previous two more successful years. He says the experience strengthened the team. "2009 was a tough year altogether. I learned a lot throughout about team building and lifting up the team," he said. "The team does so much, but at the end of the day I'm the one who has to jump in and get the results for them." Much of the focus this year was on whether Hamilton and his new team-mate Jenson Button would gel. There had been tensions at the team when the British driver was partnered with Fernando Alonso. "The thing is I've had different experiences with different team-mates," Hamilton told Autosport.com. "Some you have an aggressive tension between, where clearly you want to beat each other. You always want to beat each other. But with Jenson we are more just chilled friends outside of the car. Of course we want to beat each other but we are professionals. "We know once the other one alongside you does well it makes you pull your socks up. But there is a good feeling in the team. I feel privileged. I have a world champion alongside me." Hamilton is hoping the McLaren car will perform well in Australia this year. The driver believes the team have got the balance and set-up right. "Sometimes your car suits it better than others – this circuit should work to the strengths of our car," he added. "We feel stronger coming in to this race and hopefully we can get more points – for myself and Jenson. We do have a chance of winning this weekend. And hopefully we'll be able to get that edge. "Confidence is something you build on. I don't want to come here and say 'yeah we're going to win'. I feel confident I have a great strong team behind me and Jenson goes well here in Australia. So I'm confident we can go better."