Lewis Hamilton: Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss haven’t got a clue

Melbourne: Lewis Hamilton has delivered a withering riposte to former drivers, including Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Stirling Moss, who criticised his move to Mercedes by declaring: “They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Fresh from his highly encouraging fifth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix, where he also recorded the third fastest qualifying time, Hamilton took pleasure in rebuking those who had publicly questioned the wisdom of his departure from McLaren for Mercedes. “It’s nice to prove people wrong,” the 2008 world champion said.

“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.”

While Moss had described Hamilton’s choice to leave Woking six months ago as “none too clever”, Stewart had gone further in painting it as a “risk” and an “emotional decision”. But the 28-year-old revelled in the satisfaction of Mercedes’ first points of the season to argue he felt fully vindicated. “We have done a good job - we finished fifth, but we still have a lot to work on,” Hamilton said.

“We didn’t ever come out and say: ‘We’ll kick everyone’s butt.’ But we never said that we would be, either. The team have done well, I’m really proud of my team. I’m proud of my decision as well.”

Hamilton, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday morning for corporate work with Mercedes sponsors Petronas, also expressed confidence that his team had the raw speed to reel in title favourites Red Bull despite their rivals’ front-row lockout of the grid in Australia.

“I don’t think they have that big a gap on us,” he argued, also pointing to Kimi Raikkonen’s stunning victory for Lotus. “Maybe I’m wrong but that’s my feeling. In the race it was interesting to see that they didn’t run away with it, and that a car that started seventh stormed away.”

While Hamilton failed to execute Mercedes’ intended two-stop strategy at Albert Park, as the rapid degradation of his Pirelli supersofts forced him into the pits for a third time, his fifth position fortified his self-belief ahead of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

“I’m really positive,” he said, after his own performance eclipsed that of the struggling McLarens, who trailed home in ninth and 11th.

“None of us were expecting too much straight off. I admit we could have done even better, we had the capability. But our understanding of the tyres has improved. For the next race I think we will be much stronger. We can use the 10 points as a base. Everyone was talking us down but I hope this is the beginning of better things.”

Although his team-mate Nico Rosberg dropped out on lap 27 with electronic failure, Hamilton claimed that the effect of his own success had been to galvanise Mercedes as they headed for the intense humidity of Sepang. “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.”

Explaining that his new team’s start to the season had eclipsed his expectations, after he had spent much of winter testing denying that Mercedes had the slightest chance of challenging for the world title, Hamilton said: “I didn’t envisage it going as well. I just thought it would be a positive, and it’s even more so. It is satisfying for me, just as it is for the team. Every bit of detail I can gauge on the car is fed straight back in. They are such hungry people here.”