Lewis Hamilton ensured his place in Formula One history after claiming his third successive podium finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday, then warned his rivals that McLaren are going from strength to strength.

The young Briton writes a new chapter with every race this season and his second-place finish on the Sakhir circuit means he becomes the first driver to climb the podium in his first three races.

It was also the closest he has come yet to a victory, but Hamilton ran out of laps as Felipe Massa defeated the 22-year-old by 2.3 seconds.

The Brazilian bounced back in style from his disappointment in last week's Malaysia Grand Prix, where he let slip his place at the front of the grid to finish fifth.

Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished third, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld claimed fourth, while two-time world champion Fernando Alonso took fifth place.

It means Hamilton is now joint top of the drivers' championship, alongside Alonso and Raikkonen.

''It is fantastic to be joint points with Fernando and Kimi,'' he said. ''I think the team have done a fantastic job.

''We had very good pace this weekend, possibly the pace to be able to be on pole, but Felipe did a fantastic job in qualifying.

''In the race, usually the Ferraris pull away but we generally had similar pace if not quicker.

''We have made fantastic steps forward and I am really happy for the team and I know this next race coming up is going to be really, really good.

''We are going to be working extremely hard to make sure we make some more steps forward so we can go to Barcelona even quicker.''

Hamilton enjoyed yet another race in which he made few mistakes, although he did struggle to keep the pace on Massa after making his first pit stop.

A third stint in the pit lane rectified that as Hamilton changed to hard tyres and started to make up ground.

''I didn't think I made many mistakes that cost me that much,'' he continued. '' I struggled a bit on the new tyres, the balance was not very good and I locked up a couple of times, but that was it. We got back on to the hard tyre and we were able to keep up the pace.

''It was definitely good for experience, not having to defend my position and to have the pace to put pressure on Felipe.

''It is great we had pace, especially in the first bit, where we were able to keep with him and I think for sure if we were in front we would have pulled away.''

Massa insisted it is still too early to say who is the number one driver for Ferrari, with both he and Raikkonen having now scored successes this season.

He said: ''Every result is important for me, Kimi and for the team and so I think there will not be any decision until the championship is almost done.

''The team has to work very hard to put both cars in front of McLaren, which is quite difficult and our target is the championship.

''We need to keep pushing very hard as a team, trying to improve everything to get even better.''

Hamilton was the only Briton to finish the race.

Jenson Button again suffered disappointment in his Honda when his race came to an end only minutes after climbing into his car when Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed collided with the 27-year-old.

David Coulthard was again unable to complete a race, but it was extremely disappointing for the Red Bull driver as he had climbed from 21st on grid up to seventh before flames under the car brought an end to his race midway through.

Super Aguri's Anthony Davidson also retired late on with smoke pouring from the back of his car.

Button is relishing a month-long break from Formula One. The 27-year-old found himself frustrated by the limitations of his car in the previous two races but it was not the fault of his car when he was forced off the circuit on the first lap.

Button ''It wasn't really that much fun. The start was good but when I got spun round the anti-stall didn't work for some reason and so that was the end of my race. We need a break now to make our improvements.''