Lewis Hamilton is convinced that McLaren Mercedes can wrest the initiative back from Ferrari at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 12 days' time, but the Italians believe that they have the advantage going into the third race of the season - and for good reason.

After a comprehensive victory for Kimi Raikkonen, the defending champion, at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, the Scuderia have regained their confidence, despite the irritation of seeing Felipe Massa crash when he might have finished in second place.

The ace in the hole for Ferrari is that, unlike McLaren, they completed six days of testing at the Sakhir International Circuit in the desert in Bahrain in early February and the red cars were in sparkling form.

Raikkonen screamed round the track a full two seconds faster than last year's pole-position time and the Ferraris made the Toyotas, who were the only other team to join them at the test, look like escapees from the nearby camel farm.

At the time, Raikkonen was in ebullient mood about the F2008. “I went quicker and quicker and I know I can easily improve a bit more because the car is excellent,” he said. No surprise, then, to hear his team principal, Stefano Domenicali, recalling that test as the team moved on from Kuala Lumpur.

“It's clear that we'll take advantage of this, most of all during the preparation for the [Bahrain] grand prix,” Domenicali said. He noted that conditions will be different - hotter, no doubt - but added: “Having spent more days there compared to the others is something positive.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, has flown to the Thai resort of Koh Samui with his trainer, Adam Costanzo, and Adrian Sutil, the Force India driver, for a few days of relaxation and training before he heads to Bahrain. As he left Malaysia, where he could finish only fifth, he was trying to look on the bright side of a disappointing weekend.

“We still have the car. I was happy with it and the reliability was fantastic,” Hamilton said. “We can improve in certain areas, but we are still going to Bahrain leading the championship.

“There's no team that can push more than we can - I'm quite confident. I wasn't surprised by the Ferraris. They were strong here last year and have a good car. They were a lap shorter than us in qualifying, but they are going to keep pushing.”

Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren chief executive, was more candid, admitting that Ferrari had outpaced them in Sepang. “You are always worried when you get beaten,” he said. “I have to say Ferrari looked strong. We performed as well as we could throughout the weekend, so I'm concerned about that - we've got to make sure we get the car quicker.”

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