Lewis Hamilton hits back at critics who doubted logic of his Mercedes switch

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he has taken great satisfaction from already proving critics of his move to Mercedes wrong.

While Hamilton has consistently tried to manage expectations since arriving at Brackley, the 28-year-old insists that at no stage did he suggest the W04 would be completely off the pace in 2013 either. Nonetheless, he admits they still weren't expecting to be quite as strong as they were at Albert Park - and that he actually thinks they could have achieved an even better result. "We didn't ever come out and say: 'We'll kick everyone's butt,' but we never said that we would be c**p, either," Hamilton explained. "The team have done well, I'm really proud of my team. I'm proud of my decision as well. For all of us, we were not expecting to be competing where we were. "But we could have done better. We definitely had the capability to do better, it's just that some things didn't play into our hands. We still take a lot out of the race, we're positive, and for the next race (in Malaysia on Sunday) we will be even stronger. "We have a good development platform now, and I am really, really happy with the result." As a permanent venue, the Sepang circuit on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur should provide a better representation of the true pecking order in 2013 than the streets of Albert Park and Hamilton thinks they can do even better this weekend. "Our understanding of the tyres has improved," he added. "For the next race I think that we will be much stronger - we have a good development platform. I'm really happy with that first result. We can use the ten points as a base. Everyone was talking us down but I hope this is the beginning of better things. "I definitely feel that the team are flat out - they are on it. We're moving in the right direction and we have some bits coming that I hope can allow us to make the next step."