Lewis Hamilton has declared he feels mentally tougher than ever and is confident his 2016 season is "going to come good".
The triple world champion heads into this weekend's Chinese GP trailing Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the Drivers' Championship after the German's winning streak from the end of last year continued at the Australian and Bahrain Grands Prix.
Hamilton has beaten Rosberg to pole at both races but seen his victory chances scuppered by poor starts, which have left him sixth and seventh respectively at the end of the opening lap.
But, despite his team-mate's results, Hamilton is sanguine about the situation.
"People keep asking me if I'm worried - if there's a downward trend emerging," said Hamilton. "But I'm feeling the complete opposite. There are no real flaws in our procedure and how we're working, so I know it's going to come good.
Mercedes: More to come from Ferrari
"On a personal level too, I'm in the best place I've ever been psychologically. There's very little, if anything at all, that can penetrate that. There's a long, long way to go, so I'll just keep working as hard as I have been."
Hamilton's second and third-place finishes so far in 2016 means he is 17 points behind Rosberg but, ahead of a Shanghai race he has won a record four times and finished on the podium at every year since 2010, the Briton said: "It's not been a smooth start to the season for me, so to be in the championship position I'm in right now is actually pretty positive.
"If you can have two bad races and still come away with two podiums, that bodes pretty well. I've come back from worse, that's for sure!"
Mercedes have dominated the Chinese GP over the last four seasons, with Rosberg's win in 2012 the first of the modern Silver Arrows era.
The German's back-to-back successes at the start of this year represent his best start to a season and he admits he is savouring Mercedes' continued domination of F1.
"It's great to start the season in such a positive way. But I'm just taking things step by step, race by race and targeting a lot more wins to come," said Rosberg after moving on to 16 career wins in Bahrain.
"It's important to enjoy times like these. I feel very privileged to drive the best car on the grid for the third year in a row and I intend to make the most of it. I'm going to China now knowing I can fight for the win, which is a great feeling to have."
Get Sky F1: Every 2016 race live
Don't miss the F1 Report: Chinese GP preview on Wednesday at 8.30pm on Sky Sports F1. Five-time GP winner John Watson and F1 historian Roger Smith join Natalie Pinkham to look ahead to round three of the season.