MELBOURNE, Australia - Ahead of his big Ferrari debut Lewis Hamilton vowed to deliver in red, insisting the pressure he places himself under is all coming from within.
Hamilton's move to Ferrari has dominated F1's off-season and sees the sport's most successful driver linking up with its most successful team.
Ferrari has not won a championship since 2008 -- Hamilton is looking to add to his record-equaling seven drivers' titles.
As the most famous and longest serving team in Formula 1 expectations associated with racing for Enzo Ferrari's squad are always sky high.
"I think always through the years, the pressure that I put on myself has always been 10 times higher than any other pressure that can be put upon me," Hamilton told reporters on Thursday. "I've not joined this team and been made to feel any pressure. I have an expectation for myself.
"I know what I can bring. I know I can deliver. I know what it's going to take to do that. And it's just getting your head down and working away. So I come with a very open mind coming in this weekend."
Later in the news conference he was asked if he was feeling the weight of expectation and he elaborated on his mindset.
"I'm not, because I don't really read the news and I go for long, long periods of time without social media," he said. "So I'm not being bombarded with all the stuff on social media, so I'm kind living in my own little bubble in my head.
He added: "[I'm] under no assumptions it will be easy. It is not. I know what I have. I don't feel the pressure -- the outside pressure is nonexistent for me. The pressure is from within and what I want to achieve. I'm not here to prove anything to anybody. I don't feel I have to do anything, I've been here a long, long time and done it time and time again.
"I know what it takes to do a good job and that's what I want to deliver for myself, my family and for this team that I really believe deserve success. When you see such a large group of people who are clearly so passionate and driven and have maybe not had as much success as they would like or deserve, you just want to work and contribute to doing that."
Hamilton has driven in a handful of Ferrari tests during the off-season break but will get two practice sessions on Friday to get to grips with his new car ahead of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday, the first competitive event of the new year.
The 40-year-old said he is still getting used to the new methods of working, evidenced best in how differently Ferrari's data is presented to the drivers and engineers.
"Coming into Ferrari power, it's something quite new, different vibration, different feel, different way of working. The whole team works completely differently.
"I was just sitting just looking at like the race trace from last year and it's upside down compared to the previous ones! I don't understand at all.
"I come with a very open mind coming into this weekend. It is about getting into a season, getting into a good rhythm."
"I've been giving absolutely everything to training to push my mind and my body further than I have before, trying to see if I can excel and just squeeze more juice out of this," he said. "And I'm under no assumptions that it will be easy.
Hamilton added it's the most exciting period of his life: "You're looking at things from a different perspective, which makes it exciting and challenging. This is the most exciting period of my life, so I'm really just enjoying it and I'm so excited to get in the car tomorrow."
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