Though he activated a clause in his contract, thereby freeing him to jump ship to Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton denies that he lost faith in Mercedes.

Of course, after two win-less seasons, for which Toto Wolff admits culpability in terms of leading the team down the wrong path, such a feeling would be understandable, but not so insists the seven-time world champion.

"Honestly it wasn't," he told reporters in Bahrain. "I truly believe that this team, as I mentioned earlier, is going to win another championship. It's an incredible group of people and it's really well run.

"Mercedes has such an incredible history and from the board down they are really heavily invested in racing and so many areas," he continued. "Regardless whether or not this is a championship winning car, it doesn't have any bearing on how I feel about it, the next stage of my career."

Having won six of his titles with the German team, and another with Mercedes-powered McLaren, Hamilton admits that part of the lure to Ferrari was putting the legendary Maranello outfit back on top.

"As I said, it's all about a new chapter in my life and I really feel like I've done everything I could possibly do with this team and I'm on the back end of my career. I love a challenge and this is the ultimate challenge really, to go to a team that is incredibly iconic, has an amazing history, but also has not had as much success as I guess as they would have hoped in the past decade or so.

"They're already looking very strong this weekend which is positive for them," he added, "and I hope that my goal is to beat them this year and I'll see that switches next year also."

Asked if the atmosphere at Mercedes has changed since his shock announcement at the beginning of the month, he said: "Nothing really changes. I was back at the factory last, on Monday... it's full attack. Everyone's all hands on deck.

"And the team... I've been with this team such a long time. There's so much love within the team. And I still, and always will, love this team.

"Everyone was incredibly understanding within the team, hugely supportive. Everyone knows that I'm here to deliver for them this year, so that's the focus.

"It's the same as any other year. It is emotional, and every week will be emotional," he admitted. "The seat fit is your last seat fit with the team and you've been doing it... you remember it, the first one. The winter test is the last winter test that I'll do with the team. And so each... there's going to be a lot of emotional experiences through the year, but we'll do it together."

Pre-season testing suggests that Mercedes is behind Ferrari, which appears to be closing on Red Bull.

"We still have some problems that we're having to work through and it's not perfect," he admitted, "but it's definitely a better starting place from the past two years, so we are relatively happy in that respect.

"We're not where we want to be and may not compete with these other guys at the front but we will work towards it," he insisted