Hamilton laughs off Horner calls for level field

By John O'Brien SEPANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - World champion Lewis Hamilton admitted he was amused by Red Bull boss Christian Horner's calls for Formula One to forcibly reduce his Mercedes team's advantage. Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two ahead of Nico Rosberg in Melbourne a fortnight ago and such was their dominance, a continuation of last season's supremacy, that Horner suggested measures may be needed to balance out the field. "I find it quite funny," the Briton told reporters at Sepang on Thursday ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix. "Also it's only been one race, so to already have comments after the first race is what I find funny." Hamilton noted that Horner made few complaints when Red Bull claimed four constructors' titles in a row from 2010, with Sebastian Vettel winning the world title on each season, and said Mercedes had never voiced any displeasure during that period. "It's an interesting opinion coming from individuals who have had so much success," Hamilton added. "On the personal side it was a big step for me to come to this team that had so many years of poor performance... they hadn't had the success of other teams. "Not once did this team ever complain to others in order to equalise things, they just worked their arses off. We've pulled together and done an amazing job and I'm really very proud of that." Hamilton remains confident that Mercedes will stay ahead of the pack in Malaysia but is wary of the threat posed by his team mate in an evenly matched car. "I think Nico will be quick this weekend and he'll be pushing as hard as he always did last year in qualifying," he added. "I've just got to try and keep up the momentum from the last race if I can." Rosberg admitted qualifying was important in Malaysia but claimed that other factors needed to be taken into account to affect the outcome of the race. "Yes, qualifying is important in this internal battle since we have the same cars but it's not everything," the German said. "We have seen in the past that playing around with tyre order or things like that, it is still possible to overtake and this weekend here, there might be a bit more leeway in the strategy to try and launch a better attack." (Editing by Pritha Sarkar)