Lewis Hamilton says he’s happy to have proven wrong those who doubted his decision to switch from McLaren to Mercedes for 2013.
The Briton won four races with McLaren last season before announcing he was leaving the team for the off-pace Mercedes which has won just a single race in three seasons.
That led to much criticism from ex-drivers, but Hamilton, who qualified third and finished fifth in Australia, says the result has proven they “don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“It’s nice to prove people wrong,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “It has been everyone, particularly all the ex-drivers commenting that it was the worst decision ever. They said: ‘He’s going to finish nowhere, they’re going to be nowhere.’ And then they contradicted themselves, going the other way.
“They don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re either this way or that, when the truth is the bit in the middle.”
The 28-year-old, who has consistently managed expectations, admitted the team were in a better position than he could have expected.
“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.
“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.”
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