• British Grand Prix

Hamilton philosophical over lost victory

Lewis Hamilton was leading before his puncture © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• British Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton believes his tyre failure cost him "an easy win" but was pleased to recover to fourth place in the British Grand Prix.

Having led away from pole, Hamilton had opened up a gap of more than two seconds over Sebastian Vettel when he suffered a tyre failure in the first sector which relegated him to last place. Two safety cars and numerous overtaking manoeuvres helped Hamilton climb back up to fourth by the end as team-mate Nico Rosberg took victory, and Hamilton said it was an unlucky race for him.

"It was really unfortunate today," Hamilton said. "The fans have been incredible, the weather's great and it looked like we were on our way to a win. The car was feeling great and I just had no problems at all, but the tyre blew up. But a big congratulations to Nico and the team they've done an incredible job; the car was great throughout the race and I'm just glad that I was able to catch up and get some points."

When asked how comfortable he felt in the lead before the puncture, Hamilton said: "It would have been an easy win really, I had the pace."

However, Hamilton did admit he was pleased with his recovery and encouraged by the pace shown throughout the race.

"When I was back in 21st I didn't even know if I was going to get any points today so I'm very grateful to come up as high as I did so I'll look forward to the next race, because if the car performs like this then we stand more chances of winning."

With three other drivers suffering tyre failures, Hamilton was asked if it was concerning for the drivers, to which he replied: "Yes, big time, they need to do something."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.