“I’m very happy with the decision I made. What is happening to them doesn’t
have any impact on that.
“People do sometimes lose their way. Even we (McLaren) have struggled in the
past and not scored points.
“To be honest, I’ve not really focused on them to see what problems they’ve
had with the car. I’ve not really noticed it.
“I’ve just been focusing on trying to get the constructors’ title for this
team, trying to get the maximum for us.
“It is theoretically still possible for us to win it, so I’m going to be all
guns blazing for that.”
Appreciating the size of the task awaiting him at Mercedes when he officially
joins on January 1, Hamilton added: “I already knew how big it was going to
be.
“I really thought about it long and hard, and I could see how big it was.
Perhaps it’s now growing.
“But as a task I’m really excited about it, excited to meet new people and to
being in a different environment, and to mould myself into that
environment.”
Hamilton experienced an altogether different world away from F1 this week as
part of his work with the children’s charity UNICEF.
One particular experience earlier this year was eye-opening enough for the
27-year-old when he visited the Philippines capital Manila.
But a visit to one of India’s most impoverished areas, following the grand
prix on the outskirts of New Delhi four days ago, clearly left an indelible
mark upon him.
Surrounded by the splendour of Abu Dhabi’s multi-million pound Yas Marina
circuit, the contrast compared to his environment of the previous few days
was not lost on him.
“It’s insane. They’re a billion miles apart, literally opposite ends of the
spectrum,” said Hamilton.
“You have one of the wealthiest places we ever get to go here in Abu Dhabi,
and I’ve just been to one of the poorest places I’ve ever seen.”
Clearly choked at this point, Hamilton added: “It was very sad to see. I
was there and I got to see an issue not many people are conscious of because
we just go about our daily lives, including me.
“There are ladies having babies on the streets, malnourished kids that are
allowed to die. No-one comes to the rescue. These babies don’t even have a
fighting chance.
“That’s insane considering there is enough money in the world, there is enough
to go round. And if there’s not, print some more.”
As to the impact of Hamilton’s visit, he appreciates it is likely to be
“miniscule” making “the smallest of differences”.
But at least he hopes it might have raised awareness as he said: “It all
starts with one step.
“Growing up I’ve always wanted to be like…you know when you put a pebble in
the pond and it creates ripples, well, I’d like to start that kind of chain
reaction so others can follow.
“There are loads of people doing great things in the world, and it’s no skin
off my nose to go and spend a couple of days doing what I did. It was really
incredible. I really enjoyed it.”