Lewis Hamilton has laughed off Sebastian Vettel's recent criticism of Mercedes' dominance, pointing to the German's run of four straight titles between 2010 and 2013.
Vettel's streak came to an end at the start of the V6 turbo era, which has been dominated by Mercedes. Hamilton won the championship in 2014 and 2015, taking his career tally to three, and will move level with Vettel if he defends his title again this season.
Recently Vettel said Mercedes has taken excitement away for F1 fans after winning 32 of the last 38 races. Hamilton says Vettel's spell at the top of the pecking order with the dominant Red Bull, which included a record nine straight wins in 2013, was twice as long as his current spell.
"It's pretty funny because he had four years of it and l've only had two," Hamilton joked to Sky Sports. "Until l get to his level l won't have bored them as much as he had!"
Fellow Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg also thinks the team's critics have been unfair.
"To anybody who says that l would ask that there is a lot of hard work behind us," Rosberg said. "We are where we are because we are the best at the moment. It would be nice to be a bit more respectful to our achievements."
Mercedes officially launched its W07 on Sunday morning having conducted a filming day with both driversat Silverstone on Friday. Hamilton will be the first to take to the track on Monday morning when pre-season testing gets underway at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. Vettel will also be on track as he drives the SF16-H, which Ferrari launched on Friday afternoon.