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McLaren pole sitter Lewis Hamilton has said he will not make the same mistakes that he did a year ago during the Chinese Grand Prix as he chases the title.

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The 23-year-old Briton, five points clear of Felipe Massa and 12 ahead of Robert Kubica with two races left, could become Formula One's youngest champion at the Shanghai International Circuit.

However he lost a 17-point lead at the same stage last season after sliding into the gravel near the pit-lane in China.

"I have to take the last race into account, and I'll put that into my memory bank to make sure we don't make that same mistake again," he said.

"Last year I came here off a real high: I was nervous, I was nervous as hell, I could win the World Championship.

"I drove phenomenally well in the wet conditions... one little mistake really hit home hard."

He added that this season he would be happy to win as many points as possible and take the title race to the season finale in Brazil, rather than focusing on winning the crown as soon as possible.

"You can't think about it [the title] because however exciting, however amazing it could be, it's never done until it's done," said Hamilton.

"I can only dream of what it would feel like to be world champion and so I work every day towards it - and hopefully one day I will be world champion.

"My country would be extremely proud. My family would be - and that would make me happier than ever.

"I come here this year on not such a high, as humble as can be. I can't lose the World Championship tomorrow, but we can take another step towards winning it.

"Last year I was looking at this one; this year I'm looking further ahead."

One reason for his cautious approach is the sloppy start he made from pole position at last weekend's Japanese GP, where he lost the lead to Kimi Raikkonen and incurred a penalty for obstructing the Finnish world champion.

The Ferrari driver will again line up alongside the Briton on the front row in Shanghai - but Hamilton said that would not change his attitude.

"But I have to approach turn one the same way as I've approached every race that I've done in Formula One," he said.

"Hopefully it will be a bit more straightforward than it was in Fuji."

Hamilton said he was in good shape to take on the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Massa, who starts in third place.

"They'll be very competitive at the start and it will be hard to beat them off the start but we're in a better position to at least attack," he continued.

"If [Raikkonen] is ahead of me, that doesn't really matter [because] as long as Felipe's behind me that's still positive - but I think our race pace is very good.

"We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, hopefully the weather will stay the same but I heard that maybe it will be raining."

Reuters