Hamilton confident despite slow start

NEW DELHI, Oct 26, 2012 (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton said he felt confident ahead of Sunday's Indian Grand Prix despite a relatively slow start in Friday's opening practice sessions.

The Briton was fastest in his McLaren for much of the opening morning session but drifted away in the afternoon when defending champion German Sebastain Vettel of Red Bull dominated.

But Hamilton, who finished sixth, said: "Today has been pretty good -- we are struggling a little bit in trying to switch the tyres on, on low fuel, but that is a lot to do with the out-lap and tyre pressures and things and we can fix that.

"Long-run pace is looking good, relatively strong and I think if we had been in the race there now we would have been keeping up with the Red Bulls and the Lotuses.

"I am hoping that the Red Bulls are maybe trying to improve their qualifying pace and were running lower fuel, if not then we are in trouble.

"We should gain a little bit of time then on fuel, but not enough -- but I am sure if I go over the data tonight I will find something!" 

He added that a one-stop strategy for the race was probable because the Pirelli tyres were lasting well.

"The soft tyres are lasting pretty well. We did 22 or 25 laps altogether and my tyres were looking pretty good so maybe a one stop race could be possible."