Lewis Hamilton believes his second-place finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix proved to him he has the ability to take on the very best in Formula 1.
The 22-year-old battled through red-hot conditions and kept the 'red blobs' of the Ferrari duo in his rear mirrors at Sepang as his stunning start in Formula 1 continued.
Hamilton held off the challenge of Kimi Raikkonen - who finished third - and Felipe Massa to secure second place behind McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso to follow up his third-place finish on debut at the Australian GP in Melbourne.
The results have taken him to third in the early drivers' standings on 14 points, four behind Alonso, and he feels any lingering self-doubt over whether he could cope at the highest level have now evaporated.
'I always wondered when I was finally challenged by someone like Fernando or Kimi in a race whether I'd be able to defend and I managed it, so I'm really happy. Defending is 10 times harder than trying to pass someone,' he said.
'That was the most difficult race I have ever had.
'To have two Ferraris behind, two red blobs in the mirrors which were a little lighter and a little quicker than you, it is very difficult to keep them behind you.
'It was incredibly tough, it was just so hot in the car.
'I was fortunate that my trainer, the doctor and I had worked extremely hard to make sure I was fit enough for this race.
'I drank enough over the last three weeks. I've drunk and drunk all day to make sure I didn't dehydrate.'
Raikkonen closed down a sizeable gap as the race drew to a close but Hamilton was able to hang on by just 0.782 seconds.
'During the third stint the car was sliding more, so it was definitely harder, and I came up to some backmarkers,' he added.
'I was trying not to lose any time to him because I knew Kimi was pushing and I could see that I was two seconds down a lap. So I dug in and just tried to make it to the end.'
