Lewis Hamilton gears up for Bahrain Grand Prix pumping iron in the gym as defending world champion defends Snapchat use

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Lewis Hamilton has hit the weights-room in a bid to kick-start his defence of the Formula One title, after the British world champion failed to make a winning start at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend.

Hamilton is fighting fit and will look to rectify his failure to open the 2016 season with victory in Melbourne by getting into the best shape possible ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix a week on Sunday.

The 31-year-old, who has won the Formula One championship on three occasions, took to Instagram to post a picture of him looking focused whilst performing a bench press alongside a training buddy.

Lewis Hamilton has hit the weights-room in a bid to kick-start his defence of the Formula One title in Bahrain

Hamilton is fighting fit and will look to rectify his failure to open the 2016 season with victory in Melbourne

Dressed in coral, Hamilton will hope the extra hours in the gym will pay off as he looks to make it three wins from three to equal Fernando Alonso for the most number of victories on the Bahrain International Circuit.

The active post comes on the same day the F1 driver defended his use of Snapchat despite criticism from those within the sport, claiming social media gives him the opportunity to communicate with his 2.6million Instagram fans.

The Mercedes driver attracted the attention of New Zealand police prior to the season's curtain-raiser for apparently taking images of himself while riding a Harley-Davidson on the motorway. 

The law bans the use of handheld devices while in charge of a vehicle, but Hamilton was let off after investigations into the footage proved inconclusive.

Lewis Hamilton was investigated by Auckland City detectives after posting two Snapchat videos

Hamilton maintains that providing his followers with an insight into his jet-set lifestyle should be encouraged, saying: 'I like social media and I've got a great following.

'I've got some incredible fans that follow me from all over the world and come to the races, but what they don't get to see from a picture you take with video, you can now show the stuff you're doing instantly.

'If I took a video now, then edited it and wrote a comment and hashtags and all that rubbish, then put it on Instagram, I'd have to do that later on. [With] this thing, you can just do it real, real quick and it gives you more of an insight of what's going on in my day because we are all over the place.

'Unfortunately, F1 has blocked us from being able to film in the paddock... The amount of complaints I've had from all my snaps, it's been on and on and on, [and] now you are not allowed to [film]. But you are allowed to take stills, so I don't know what the real difference is.'