McLaren's form in pre-season testing, where their MP4-26 not only lacked pace but was also one of the least reliable, resulted in the team introducing major upgrades ahead of Melbourne. One of the main alterations was to their exhaust system, with the team opting to go with a design similar to that used by Red Bull and Ferrari.
The updates immediately showed results with Hamilton taking a solid second-placed finish behind Sebastian Vettel in Sunday's 58-lap race.
"I think we can definitely take this and be very proud of ourselves," said the 2008 World Champ.
"The guys did a great job coming into this weekend. A week or two ago we were not expecting to be anywhere near top five, to come away with second and the car more reliable, I think it is a great achievement for us guys."
But with the car now up to scratch, Hamilton concedes McLaren need to focus on other avenues in which they can improve.
"We were clearly catching Seb (Vettel) earlier in the race. Strategy is one for sure we can work on but we have a good pace and I am looking forward to the next race."
The Brit's chances of catching Vettel were also undone when he damaged the floor of his car riding the kerbs, which resulted in him losing downforce.
"The plank and the part of the floor is massively damaged. I don't know when it happened.
"I was losing quite a lot of downforce with that, so was trying to nurse the car home for points as we need them for later in the year."
Source: Planet-F1
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