MELBOURNE, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton said Wednesday he was more determined to take the Formula One championship this year after his stunning debut season with McLaren last year.

The 23-year-old British racer enjoyed a storming start to his F1 career in 2007 and was on course to clinch the title before he was pipped by just one point by Ferrari´s Kimi Raikkonen in the last race in Brazil.

Hamilton goes into the new season, which gets underway here on Sunday, with a new teammate in Heikki Kovalainen, who has replaced double world champion Fernando Alonso with whom the British driver endured a fractious relationship.

"I want to win even more," he said. "I think I´m more confident and the team I have behind me are stronger and I know what I want."

Hamilton admitted he was surprised with his stunning first season -- winning four GPs and on the podium in eight others -- but had taken several key pointers out of the year.

"It was a very, very tough season and way exceeded my expectations and everyone else´s and I was really very surprised by my performance," he said.

"There were many, many lessons but a major lesson was learning to deal with the pressure, learning to deal with being consistent, the importance of finishing high up and scoring points every race.

"Obviously, in the past I´ve learnt how to lose and how to deal with winning, so it was just on a slightly bigger scale and slightly more meaningful than it has been before," he said.

He will partner Kovalainen after the Finn and Alonso swapped seats, Alonso returning to Renault.

But Hamilton denied he would assume the role of number one driver at McLaren.

"I don´t see myself as a team leader, I feel I have a responsibility as does Heikki and we have equal responsibility in driving the team forward," Hamilton said.

Hamilton also rejected criticism from four-time world champion Alain Prost that extensive electronic controls meant modern drivers were not as skilled as in the past.

Prost said it was hard to tell who was a great driver and who wasn´t because the cars were being largely propelled by computerised aids.

Traction control, designed to prevent loss of grip under excessive acceleration, has been dumped this season, but Prost wants more done to make drivers work harder.

Hamilton rejected his claim, saying the best drivers would emerge during the season.

"I´m a bit surprised by that," Hamilton said. "Obviously, he has a right to his own opinion, but for me I think it´s even more challenging and a lot harder than it is with traction control.

"Without TC there is a real skill and the real knack to feeling the throttle and really getting down the power without lighting up your rear tyres.

"You have to look after your tyres a lot more than you have done in past years.

"I think what you´ll see is the top, top drivers will rise above the good drivers."