LEWIS Hamilton has vowed to bounce back from a disastrous weekend in Bahrain which he insists has not rocked his confidence.

Two mistakes in the opening two minutes of the race cost Hamilton any chance of a points finish, with the 23-year-old coming home a lowly 13th, and losing the lead in the drivers' championship.

But he said: "The confidence is there, and I know I've got the pace. I know in the next race we'll be quite a bit quicker than we have been this weekend."

Heading into the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona in three weeks' time, Hamilton is now in a three-way tie for third alongside his McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica.

After crashing in practice on Friday, Hamilton then momentarily stalled on the grid at the start of the race, allowing several rivals to pass by.

Then early on lap two he inexplicably drove into the back of the Enstone-built Renault of former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Following such a despondent race he said: "It was inevitable this was going to happen because I've had such a good run in Formula One, but this is all part of it. There's still a long way to go, so don't count me out yet."

Race winner Felipe Massa took the chequered flag for the second successive race and sixth time in his career to give Luca di Montezemolo the 100th victory of his Ferrari presidency.

The 26-year-old spearheaded a Scuderia one-two as world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished runner-up to take over leadership of the drivers' title race by three points from BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

"Sensational," exclaimed Massa after his triumph. "Finally, after a start to the championship under dark clouds, I can see the sunshine again."