WOKING (England) - LEWIS Hamilton took the covers off his new McLaren on Friday with a warning to his rivals that he felt better than ever with the number one on his car and a Formula One championship under his belt.

'I'm feeling more relaxed going into the season,' the 24-year-old Briton said after he and team mate Heikki Kovalainen unveiled the shining silver-and-orange MP4-24 racer at the team's Woking factory.

'I've come off a great season and it's like when you go from race to race. If you've won a race, (in) the next one you have that little bit extra confidence.

'I feel like I've reset my goals, I've reset my targets back to where I started out in Formula One,' added the sport's youngest champion, the snuffles of a winter cold failing to stifle his enthusiasm'.

'I don't sit here and say I am world champion. I say I want to be world champion.'

Hamilton, in only his second season in Formula One, took the title by a single point after a cliff-hanging final race in Brazil last November.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa won that race in front of his home fans but Hamilton pulled himself up from sixth to fifth on the final lap to secure the title despite having won fewer grands prix than the Brazilian.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who said this week that he hoped Massa would win the title this year, has since been campaigning for the title to be decided by an Olympic-style medals system rather than points.

Under the system, the driver who won most races would be champion. Unsurprisingly, Hamilton was no fan of the suggestion.

'We work hard as a team to win and be consistent and being consistent, whether you finish first or third, it's got to be the driver and team that's done the best job over the whole year and not just who's won the most races,' he said.

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Formula One's rules have changed considerably this season, with the return of slick tyres and major alterations to the aerodynamics.

The new car has a very different look to its predecessors, with a low and wide front wing in contrast to a striking but far narrower rear.

'It looks very elegant, it is quite a bit different...great to see the slick tyres,' said Hamilton.

There will also be more buttons to master on the steering wheel with the introduction of the new kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), although Hamilton was happy with that as a lover of gadgets.

The changes mean all teams and drivers will be entering new territory when the season starts at Melbourne's familiar Albert Park circuit on March 29.

'Its going to be interesting,' said Hamilton. 'When you change the rules so aggressively, it's going to be tough to stay dominant'.

'But everyone has been working flat out to make sure this car is the best, we're learning every day with the car in the wind tunnel and developing new components for it.'

Hamilton looked forward to renewing battle with Massa and expected him to be even more motivated.

'It's going to be a close battle but I don't know whether it will be me and him or (Ferrari's 2007 champion) Kimi (Raikkonen). We have to wait and see.' -- REUTERS