Lewis Hamilton wrote his name in Formula One history yesterday when, with a mature drive to a second-place finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix behind Felipe Massa, of Ferrari, he became the first driver to finish on the podium in each of his first three races.

Perhaps more significantly, the Briton also made the leap, during 57 consistent laps in the desert heat of Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit, from being regarded as a mere rookie of outstanding ability who might win a race or two in his maiden season to a serious title contender.

With a third place in Australia and seconds in Malaysia and Bahrain, Hamilton is now level on 22 points at the top of the drivers’ championship alongside his McLaren Mercedes teammate, Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Raikkonen, of Ferrari, while Massa lies fourth five points adrift.

It is no exaggeration to say that the 22-year-old from Hertfordshire is already Britain’s best title hope since Damon Hill’s championship-winning season in 1996. He is also the favourite to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, while the sport itself has not looked this exciting for years, with three different winners to start the season.

Hamilton’s ultra-consistent driving, both in qualifying, which put him on the front row of the grid — second — for the first time, and during the race, came in stark contrast to Alonso. The two-times defending world champion looked out of sorts all weekend and struggled with poor handling and lack of grip to finish fifth, a long way behind his supposed acolyte.

Alonso has been regarded as McLaren’s champion-elect this season, but Bahrain has changed all that and everybody, from Hamilton himself to senior managers in McLaren, now recognise that the Briton’s remarkable composure under the pressure of race conditions is making him a serious player this season.

Hamilton has been cautious about talking of championships — that is understandable from a modest young man who is as surprised and delighted by his extraordinary debut as his millions of new fans — yet after the race, he talked openly of a title bid.

Asked whether he believed he now had the same chance in the title race as Alonso, he said: “Absolutely. I don’t see why not. I have the same car and I seem to be as competitive as him. As long as I can keep up the consistency, I know now that a win is going to be possible. We need to make no mistakes and try to take advantage of this four weeks to the next race to try and keep on beating the Ferraris.”

If Hamilton came of age here, no less can be said of Massa, who started from pole for the second grand prix in succession, but was under enormous pressure after making a mess of his winning opportunity in Malaysia a week ago. In the paddock, the feeling is widely shared that the likeable Brazilian’s career is hanging in the balance somewhat and that his confidence could have been irretrievably damaged by another failure.

To give him his due, however, Massa drove beautifully. At the start, the scene of his trouble in Malaysia, he did not put a foot wrong despite Hamilton’s attempts to wrong-foot him, and he drove a clean race from there. Just as Hamilton had embarrassed Alonso, so Massa left the much more highly paid Raikkonen, who was third, looking sheepish at the end. As a result, the battle for supremacy at Ferrari is wide open after three races.

While Massa enjoyed himself in front, Hamilton held his grid position throughout. He kept Alonso, who got ahead of Raikkonen at the first corner, at bay early on. Then, once the Finn had shuffled past Alonso during the first round of pitstops, Hamilton drove comfortably ahead of Raikkonen and was attacking Massa in the closing laps.

Nick Heidfeld, of BMW Sauber, drove an excellent race that included a courageous pass of Alonso to secure fourth place for the second race in a row. The German is getting the best out of the fast-improving BMWs and the team’s ambition to be title contenders next year looks well on course. His teammate, Robert Kubica, had more bad luck and had to settle for sixth place, after driving throughout with the fuel flap open, which ruined the aerodynamic flow over his car.

David Coulthard impressed with a fighting performance from 21st on the grid for Red Bull until a drive-shaft failure stopped him when in seventh place on lap 38. Anthony Davidson had a good day for Super Aguri until his engine blew four laps before the finish when he was in twelfth position, but Jenson Button was the victim of a collision with Coulthard on the first lap, which ended his race.

Result

1, F Massa (Br, Ferrari) 1hr 33min 27.515sec; 2, L Hamilton (GB, McLaren Mercedes) at 2.360sec behind; 3, K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari) 10.839; 4, N Heidfeld (Ger, BMW Sauber) 13.831; 5, F Alonso (Sp, McLaren Mercedes) 14.426; 6, R Kubica (Pol, BMW Sauber) 45.529; 7, J Trulli (It, Toyota) 1min 21.371sec; 8, G Fisichella (It, Renault) 1:21.701; 9, H Kovalainen (Fin, Renault) 1:29.411; 10, N Rosberg (Ger, Williams-Toyota) 1:29.916; 11, A Wörz (Austria, Williams-Toyota) at 1 lap behind; 12, R Schumacher (Ger, Toyota) 1 lap; 13, R Barrichello (Br, Honda) 1 lap; 14, C Albers (Neth, Spyker-Ferrari) 2 laps; 15, A Sutil (Ger, Spyker-Ferrari) 4 laps; 16, A Davidson (GB, Super Aguri-Honda) 6 laps.

Did not finish: M Webber (Aus, Red Bull-Renault) 37 laps completed, T Sato (Japan, Super Aguri-Honda) 34 laps, D Coulthard (GB, Red Bull-Renault) 32 laps, V Liuzzi (It, Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 23 laps, S Speed (US, Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari) no laps, J Button (GB, Honda) no laps.

Qualifying positions: 1, Massa 1min 32.652sec; 2, Hamilton 1:32.935; 3, Raikkonen 1:33.131; 4, Alonso 1:33.192; 5, Heidfeld 1:33.404; 6, Kubica 1:33.710; 7, Fisichella 1:34.056; 8, Webber 1:34.106; 9, Trulli 1:34.154; 10, Rosberg 1:34.399.

Eliminated after second 15min session: 11, Wörz 1:32.915; 12, Kovalainen 1:32.935; 13, Davidson 1:33.082; 14, Schumacher 1:33.294; 15, Barrichello 1:33.624; 16, Button 1:33.731.

Eliminated after first 15min session: 17, Sato 1:33.984; 18, Liuzzi 1:34.024; 19, Speed 1:34.333; 20, Sutil 1:35.280; 21, Coulthard 1:35.341; 22, Albers 1:35.533.

Championship positions: Drivers: equal 1, Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen 22pts; 4, Massa 17; 5, Heidfeld 15; 6, Fisichella 8; 7, Trulli 4; 8, Kubica 3; 9, Rosberg 2; equal 10, Schumacher and Kovalainen 1.

Constructors: 1, McLaren Mercedes 44; 2, Ferrari 39; 3, BMW Sauber 18; 4, Renault 9; 5, Toyota 5; 6, Williams-Toyota 2. Next race: May 13: Spanish GP(Barcelona).