Hamilton happy to have changed Lauda's opinion

Aug.2 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton has warmly welcomed the "great compliment" made by triple world champion Niki Lauda after the recent Hungarian grand prix.

Having won his first race for Mercedes from pole since switching from McLaren, Hamilton's drive was lauded by team chairman Lauda as "the best I've ever seen in my life".

"We were not as quick as the Red Bull but Lewis really made it all up, especially the way he passed people. He was outstanding," said the F1 legend.

But two years ago, before Lauda decided to head-hunt the 28-year-old Briton from McLaren to replace Michael Schumacher, the outspoken Austrian had a vastly different opinion.

After one particularly incident-marred race in 2011, Lauda said of Hamilton: "You cannot drive like this -- it will result in someone getting killed."

So it's for that reason that Hamilton so happily accepts Lauda's Budapest praise.

"Coming from Niki Lauda, it's a great compliment. I'm very happy he's said something like that," Hamilton is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace.

"It's crazy, because when I was at McLaren, he didn't know me and he had a very different opinion.

"Now we spend a lot of time together and his opinion has changed a lot," the Briton added.