There was little love lost between Lewis Hamilton and his former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by the time the latter secured the Formula One world championship in Abu Dhabi last season, after which the German promptly retired. Dwelling on a friendship lost to the white heat of competition was not on the agenda, however, for the British driver when he helped unveil his new car for 2017, despite the pair having been close when they raced one another in their early years. He also conceded that he, too, has considered retirement but returns as eager to compete as ever.

Despite winning the last four races of 2016, even though he was hampered by mechanical failures and some poor starts, Hamilton was beaten to his fourth title by five points, after which Rosberg shocked the team by bringing his career to a close. He has been replaced by Valtteri Bottas. With F1 embracing new regulations for 2017, and the entirely new Mercedes on show at Silverstone for the first time on Thursday, Hamilton envisaged the opportunity of the reset as a fresh start for himself, too.

“I have never missed a team-mate in my life.” he said. “There is always another one that takes his place. It is strange seeing someone else in the car next to me but you soon get past it and you get on.”

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He and Rosberg had known one another since they were 14 and raced and roomed together in karting but with the dominant Mercedes making it a two-horse battle between them for the title over the past three seasons the competition turned increasingly ugly. After Rosberg hit Hamilton at Spa in 2014, to which the British driver responded that “this means war”, the intensity of their rivalry did not diminish, with further flashpoints on track over the next two years. By the end of last season both were often referring to the other in the third person rather than by name.

There is little sign yet of any further détente. With testing for the new season about to begin in Barcelona, Hamilton’s assessment of his former team-mate was given sharp emphasis by contrast with his own ambitions. “It has been a long, hard slog for him and he finally got it,” said Hamilton. “So he wants to keep it as it ends and not risk retiring at the end of this year and not being in the same position. I don’t think like that. I win the championship and I want to fight for it again.”

Gale force winds battered Silverstone to give a bracing if not particularly hospitable welcome to the new Mercedes, officially dubbed the rather ungainly W08 EQ Power+ (although the latter part, referring to the hybrid technology, is likely to see short shrift in all but official communiqués), which fortunately certainly looked impressive. It is aggressive but elegant and stylishly packaged with, as expected, intricate aero especially on the barge boards, with airflow leading to a narrowed back-end clearly a priority. Hamilton put in some gentle laps in the damp conditions and, without pushing, dubbed it as “awesome”, which was subject of course to genuinely giving it a proper run at full pace in Barcelona.

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Which he was very eager to undertake, the new car and new challenge proving as alluring as ever. “I don’t know all the reasons Nico retired but I can empathise with the feeling of wanting to stop and do something different,” he said. “Every now and then I have a thought of what I will do afterwards but then I see the car and I think ‘Wow, I am going to stay.’ I don’t know how long I will be staying but I am still competitive, still hungry and still a driver at my best, so I will continue to do so no matter who I race against for as long as I can put up a good fight.”

As he has demonstrated increasingly over his four years with the team, Hamilton’s ability to move on and draw on adversity means last season’s disappointment has already been left behind with the old-model Mercedes. “Last year just helped me get stronger,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t know how to get through things and you find a new tool to come out stronger. This year I feel stronger again, I feel more complete as a driver and, whatever I face this year, I will be the best prepared that I have ever been.”

For the moment, then, all is well between Hamilton and his new stablemate Bottas. But Toto Wolff, the Mercedes director of motorsport, insists the pair will be allowed to race and the former Williams driver, who is certainly no slouch behind the wheel and not short on aggression, used the launch to place notice that he intends to do just that.

“If I thought I couldn’t be quicker than Lewis, then I would rather stay at home,” said Bottas. “I believe in my skills and believe it is possible to beat him.”