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Lewis Hamilton says comments he made after the Las Vegas Grand Prix that he was "not looking forward to" next season were caused by frustration.
The Ferrari driver qualified last in Las Vegas and finished 10th, the latest in a series of difficult weekends in his maiden season with the Italian team.
But Hamilton, who has made a number of negative comments about his own performances and level of enjoyment this season, said: "That's just in the heat of frustration.
"Often there's a lot of frustration at the end of races when they haven't gone well. So, no, I'm excited to see what the team build next year and continue to build on with them."
Asked whether he would still have signed for Ferrari if he had known how difficult this season would be, Hamilton said: "I don't regret the decision I made joining the team. I know it takes time to build and grow within an organisation, and I expected that, so yes."
Hamilton joined Ferrari in the hope the team could take him to a record-breaking eighth drivers' title, but his first season has been an anti-climax.
The 40-year-old is hoping for a more competitive car from Ferrari next season, and is happy to see the back of the current technical rules, which he feels do not gel with his driving style.
F1 is introducing new chassis and engine rules next season.
The engines will have a much greater proportion of their total power output created by the hybrid part of the power unit, while the cars are returning to an aerodynamic philosophy more like those with which Hamilton had so much success from 2007-21.
But he said Ferrari had "a lot of work to do" over the winter to improve their operations at the track.
"We'll analyse the season and there's lots of improvements we need to make collectively," he said, "but no-one's under any illusion in the team that we will have to play our part and I believe that we can.
"So I'm hoping we implement and make those changes along with hopefully a better package next year."
And he said he was "not concerned" that he had been outperformed by team-mate Charles Leclerc this season.
"I've just been focusing on my side during this period," Hamilton said.
"Obviously, Charles has done a great job. He's been here for seven years. He's got a team around him that he's worked with for many years. So it's a well-oiled machine.
"On my side, it's a new group of people. For me, it's a new environment that I'm still getting used to working with.
"Then I had a new, another new member halfway through the year. So we're working as hard as we can, but getting that to work as well as someone that's had it for several years is not, you don't just do it like that. It takes a bit of time."
