Lewis Hamilton fears taking a step backwards at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday after revelling in his giant leap forward in Bahrain.

With the 'lie-gate' saga now behind him, the weight is finally off the shoulders of the world champion and his fourth finish at the Sakhir circuit 11 days ago suggests McLaren's painful teething problems at the start of the season are now in the past.

However the McLaren is not expected to perform well on the high downforce Circuit de Catalunya, and Hamilton said: "After such a positive performance in Bahrain, we're fully aware the characteristics of the Barcelona track won't suit our car so well."

He added: "In addition, we won't have the bigger upgrades of some of the other teams as we introduced several new parts during the opening flyaway races, so it will be interesting to see where we sit in the order.

"Nevertheless, the engineers are optimistic our new diffuser and front wing will again help us to make progress towards the front of the grid."