Lewis Hamilton says he has been left bemused by criticism of his performances - and lifestyle - in 2016.
After claiming his third pole in five races for Sunday's Spanish GP, the Mercedes driver launched a robust defence of his form after suggestions from some quarters of the media that he may have allowed his focus to drop since winning a third world title last year.
Nico Rosberg has won all four of this season's opening races, but Hamilton's title defence has been afflicted by a series of reliability problems and first-corner collisions.
Conclusions from Spanish GP qualifying
"When you look at the season so far I had two poles and two [grand prix] where I didn't have a qualifying session because I had two failures, now another pole, and issues have got in the way [at other times], yet people would say I'm not focused," Hamilton said.
"It's just a strange conclusion that a grown up would come to because it's clearly not the case. Every time I've been in the car and had the opportunity I've performed.
"The first three races I didn't have a full car [after first-corner contact], so I did the best job with what I had and I think the last race [in Russia] was great considering where I came from [10th]. So it's very early days to say those kind of things. My performance, I'm very, very happy with it and today is another showing of that. I rest my case."
Hamilton declined to comment on wild rumours he could even take a year out from F1 in 2017, simply stating: "I generally let my results do the talking."
The Briton's results in the opening stages of the Barcelona weekend had suggested he might struggle to beat Rosberg to one of the most crucial poles of the whole season, before he spectacularly turned the situation around mid-way through qualifying.
He topped Q2 by 0.6 seconds and then, despite making an error on his first flying lap in the final stage, beat Rosberg by nearly three tenths of a second to claim his 52nd career pole.
Hamilton though reckons a front-row place would have been in jeopardy had mechanics not cured his set-up problems from Friday practice.
"When you are doing practice it is about building blocks. It's one step at a time," he explained. "P1 you don't want to make too many changes because track temperature is always different when you get to P2. When you're making those changes it's like chasing your tail. Then you discover something and the next day it's completely different.
"You're kind of at a loss - you don't know what foot you're going to be starting on the next day. But I got in the car this morning with a good frame of mind, I know the engineers and mechanics worked hard overnight, and I got in and immediately the car was underneath me, which was a relief.
"If it hadn't been there is no way I'd have been in the position I'm in right now. I wouldn't have been on the front row and I'd have potentially struggled to be on the second row. So that's a great feeling when you do muddle through the maze and come out the right end."
On a track where 19 of the previous 25 races have been won from the front of the grid, Hamilton said "pole was the only option" to kick-start his attempts to reign in Rosberg.
"All I know is that it's going to be hard work [in the race]," he added. "Nico's going to be fast. Tyres, strategy, all these different things are going to come into play."
Watch the Spanish GP live on Sky Sports F1. The race starts at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up underway at 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV.