Mercedes AMG Petronas
Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton says that past experiences in Formula 1 have taught him to "stay calm" despite a difficult start to his title defence.
Hamilton claimed pole position across the opening two races but was unable to convert either advantage into victory, while he started from the back in China before recovering to seventh.
Hamilton currently sits 36 points adrift of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the standings but says he is not worried about the deficit to his rival.
"There was plenty going through my head after China, as you'd expect," he said.
"But, after all these years, experience has taught me to stay calm and keep pushing forwards when I get knocked back. I've been here before a few times now.
"A lot can happen over the next 18 race weekends and I have the utmost confidence in this team.
"But adversity is part of the journey: it brings us closer, makes us stronger and I know that together we'll bounce back, so I'm confident of better weekends to come.
"There are lots of positives to carry into the next battle. If nothing else, I know after these first few races that I can still overtake!
"I had a great start in China too, so hopefully I can continue that and use it to my advantage to build my races from a better base.
"It's Russia up next - a race that I've won on both occasions so far and a track that seems to suit me pretty well, so let's see what we can do there."
