Lewis prepares for Alonso battle

LEWIS HAMILTON is ready to go to war with his old enemy Fernando Alonso in his quest to win the Formula One world crown.

The two spectacularly fell out when they were team-mates at McLaren in 2007.
The Spaniard grew so angry at the young upstart, he quit the team after only one season.
And while the two have reconciled since, Hamilton revealed he now sees the two-time world champ as his biggest rival to his title hopes for this season.
Mercedes ace Hamilton said: “Fernando is the best driver who has got the quickest car at the moment, so that is going to be tough to beat.
“Ferrari are the quickest, they showed that in China they are the quickest overall.
“Fernando didn’t have the quickest car last year but he did a solid job by scoring points all the time.
“You can have the quickest car like Sebastian Vettel has had for the last three years and not need to have the consistency.
“Or you can have the consistency rather than the quickest car which means you stay in the fight.
“That is what we are going to have to do but I do feel like a title contender at the moment.”
Hamilton’s third place in Malaysia came under a cloud after he was gifted the spot by the team, who refused to allow his current team-mate Nico Rosberg to overtake.
But he did not need Rosberg’s help in China as he capitalised on his pole position to snatch a spot on the podium 0.2 seconds ahead Vettel.
He added: “I felt we had earned the podium in China by a bigger margin than we actually got it.
“But I feel like we should be going to the races aiming for a podium. That has got to be our target.
“I’m much happier. It was a good weekend, a good pole position.
“Of course, I would have liked to have won. That is what I came to do but we just weren’t as quick as the Ferraris.
“We just need to improve. We are not quite there yet but we are not too far away either.
“But I have a different outlook this year. I came into the year with everyone saying it was the worst decision I could possibly ever make in my life.
“I didn’t know what the car was going to be like, but we are getting these results. We are hanging on by the skin of our teeth but we are doing the job.
“However, we have to keep our feet on the ground and know we still have a lot of work to do.”