Lewis Hamilton says he would have "definitely" taken third place if it was offered to him before the race, as the Briton says he never expected to finish so high, having started the race from the very back of the grid.
The Mercedes driver started 21st alongside McLaren's Fernando Alonso and managed to climb the order to finish third. A number of incidents, a Safety Car and a red flag benefitted Hamilton hugely, allowing him to limit the damage to his championship lead which has been cut to just nine points.
"It's the best result I could have hoped for," said Hamilton. "If you’d offered me third coming into this race with all the penalties I would definitely have taken it! I really wasn’t expecting that!
"As I said yesterday, I really didn’t know what would be possible today. But I came into the race with a positive mental attitude and it all came together. It was a steep mountain to climb – but we did it together as a team."
Hamilton thanked his for their hard work after they changed his engine three times during the race weekend.
"I’m so happy and so proud of everyone. Changing so many parts on the car, it would have been easy to make mistakes. But the guys did an exceptional job and all three power units worked flawlessly.
"I think I now have more engines than most of the others, which is great," he added.
Hamilton stressed the need for a positive attitude before the race and a firm strategy: "The car worked really well out there today. The most difficult part of the race really was the mental approach from the beginning in terms of whether I risked it all at the start or hung back and tried to pick my way through carefully. I kind of went for somewhere in the middle.
"Then all this commotion happened along the way and I’m grateful I could capitalise on that. Coming from the back and having to make overtaking manoeuvres, I had to push a little bit more than you’d normally plan to, so we went for a three stop strategy. Whether or not I would have made it on a two stop with the medium I’m not sure – but I’m glad we didn’t take that risk. The team made the right call."
