Lewis Hamilton feels he is a more complete driver since he shed some of the emotional baggage that he has carried with him throughout an often turbulent career.

Jenson Button this week described Hamilton as the best of the teammates he has worked with during his long years in motorsport, which sees him start his 250th grand prix tomorrow in Bahrain.

Button, 34, offered a revealing insight into Hamilton and the three years they spent together at McLaren from 2010-2012, by claiming Hamilton was “very up and down emotionally”.

Hamilton could not disagree with Button’s appraisal but said that he believes he has moved on from those turbulent times, and more so this season with a winning car beneath him again.

“I would say what he said is quite accurate,” said Hamilton. “I always wear my heart on my sleeve, which gets me into trouble now and then, but you go through different experiences.”

The 2008 world champion credited his move from McLaren to Mercedes-GP at the end of 2012 as the key to his transformation.

“I’ve always talked to you about trying to put the right pieces in place, whether that’s experience or whatever, to get through my year in a positive way without having those spikes, and I feel like I might have found it,” he said.

“Being in this team is a lot different. It’s an absolute pleasure coming to the track, especially now even more so, knowing we’ve got a really competitive car.

“With the people I’m working with I couldn’t imagine a better place, I really couldn’t.”

Hamilton said the differences between now and his troubled times at McLaren had more to do with personal matters rather than team.

“The difference is in myself, in me and my life, where I’m happier being,” he said.

As in Malaysia last weekend, Hamilton has so far been error free in Bahrain. He was quickest in both free practice sessions and comfortably so as he looks for a second successive victory, while Mercedes look for a third on the trot.

Only Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, the championship leader, was remotely within touching distance of Hamilton and even then the German was 0.365 seconds adrift.

As for the rest, they were all at least a second off Hamilton’s pace, highly unusual for a second practice session and underlying the advantage Mercedes have over their rivals at present.

Fernando Alonso was the quickest of the chasing pack in his Ferrari in the second session, albeit 1.035 secs down, with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel down in seventh spot in his Red Bull Racing car.

Hamilton was naturally quite guarded with regard to his performance, not wanting to get too carried away despite his obvious level of dominance.

“It’s been a pretty decent day,” he said. “I’ve loved driving and the car feels better here now than it did when we were here in pre-season testing (in February and early March).

“I’ve a much better feel of where I need to put the car, so I’m very happy with the practice sessions.

“Of course, it’s definitely good to come here off a positive weekend, with that momentum, but we still have a lot of work to do to really dial in the car, both in qualifying and the race.

“It’s still going to be tough, a real challenge, particularly with the temperatures dropping all the time, so the balance is shifting throughout the run.”

Hamilton took pole position in both Australia and Malaysia and he is favourite to complete the hat-trick today when qualifying takes place at 7pm.

Tomorrow’s 57-lap race starts at 7pm.