• Malaysian Grand Prix

Hamilton satisfied with consistent results

Lewis Hamilton took his second third place finish in a row © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• Malaysian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

Lewis Hamilton was happy to settle for his second podium in a row at the Malaysian Grand Prix, despite dropping two positions from pole position at both races this season.

Hamilton led in the early stages of the race but lost position at the first pit stops when he got boxed in by traffic in the pit lane. He then struggled to mount a challenge on Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez ahead of him and had to settle for third.

"I think we can be satisfied definitely," Hamilton said. "First of all, congratulations to Fernando and also to Sergio, they both drove fantastically well and it was very tough to catch them. I would have liked more points this weekend, but I can't really complain because I'm on the podium for the second race in a row. I'm pretty happy and I feel pretty fortunate that I was able to stay out of trouble in changing conditions. I think we did a great job."

Hamilton, who is now second in the drivers' championship behind Alonso, lost time at both pit stops but said he could not complain.

"It was just a very eventful race, trying to find the right time to change from extreme [wet] tyres to intermediates, we were probably a bit late with that, and then going on to slicks ... making that call, it's [about] whether you take the risk or not. The others went a bit earlier and we lost a bit of time through our pit stops with a couple of problems, I think I had a problem with my right rear on one of the pit stops and then a right front [on another pit stop]. I was kind of out of the fight, and trying to close a 15 second or 12 second gap was pretty tough.

"But I can't complain. I think the car has been good all weekend and the team continue to do a good job and I'm on the podium again, which is my target, to have consistency. I can't for the life of me figure out how I did it in 2007 so I'm trying to repeat that."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.