Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes focuses on drivers' needs

The 2008 world champion spent his whole career at McLaren, which nurtured him through junior racing, before switching to Mercedes this season.

Asked how his past and present employers differed, Hamilton said he preferred Mercedes' approach to its drivers so far.

"We still have sponsors, we still have sponsors' appearances, we still have filming days, so there's no huge, huge difference in how they go about their business," said Hamilton.

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"But I think the focus on the driver, the driver's performance, and the driver being ready for the job at hand is one thing that I'm noticing is quite a little bit better here.

"They want me to be as ready as I can be physically and mentally, and want to do everything possible to make sure that everything is take care of."

Hamilton denied that he felt greater personal freedom with Mercedes.

"It's not that I have more freedom, I just have a little bit more time in my life," he said.

"I'm still in the racing team, I'm still devoted to helping the team move forward. It's just a new environment and I'm absolutely loving it.

"I'm so happy working with the people that I'm working with. They're all so enthusiastic, want to improve and they're really, really making a huge effort to communicate with me and get up to speed.

"They've obviously made some good steps forward compared to last year and I think they're on the right track to improve in the right direction.

"So I couldn't really be happier with them."