Lewis Hamilton not disheartened by Mercedes's current form

While Hamilton remains fully focused for now on trying to help McLaren win more races, it has not escaped his attention that his future employer has endured its worst spell of the campaign.

When asked in Abu Dhabi how Mercedes's run of three races with no points makes him feel, Hamilton said: "It makes me more driven to go and score the next point at some stage!"

He added: "I am very happy with the decision I made and it doesn't impact on that.

"Sometimes people do lose their way, and even we have struggled in the past to score points.

"But I have not really focused on them to see what problems they have had with the car or crashing or anything, I have not noticed it.

"I have been focused on trying to get this constructors' championship for the team, and trying to get the maximum point for us. It is theoretically still possible for us to win the constructors' championship so it will be all guns blazing."

Hamilton said that he already understood the challenge he would be facing in joining Mercedes, although he did suggest that perhaps the last few weeks had made his task just a bit bigger.

"I already knew when I made the decision," he said. "I knew how big it was. I really, really thought about it hard and I could see how big it was. Perhaps it is growing as a task, but I am excited about it.

"I really, really am excited to meet the new people, to be in a different environment and get to mould myself into that environment."

Current team-mate Jenson Button believes that Hamilton would face a tough time next year in getting used to a new team, and could find difficulties that he did not anticipate.

"I think it is first year with a new team, and it is always a little bit tricky," he said. "It is a new experience for Lewis and I am sure he is excited about it, but I really don't know.

"He is as quick as they come but sometimes it is not that easy to win grands prix and to build a team around you and help a team achieve good results."