Hamilton sure McLaren will bounce back

The Briton was already on the back foot after being handed a five-place grid penalty for impeding cars in qualifying, and his problems were only exacerbated by a bungled pitstop and malfunctioning water bottle.

Despite it all, the 23-year-old McLaren driver kept his sense of humour.

"I could do with a beer," Hamilton said when asked what had gone through his mind during the first pitstop that lasted 20 seconds and cost him any chance of a podium finish.

Hamilton had qualified fourth but was demoted to ninth on the starting grid for holding up rivals.

There was nothing he could do to prevent Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen cruising to victory, but Hamilton might have been on the podium without the pitstop delay.

He had climbed to fifth place after the first lap but was struggling to find a way past Australian Mark Webber's Red Bull before the first stop when the team struggled to remove his right front wheel.

"I was pushing Mark for a long, long time but being behind someone is extremely difficult so it doesn't matter how much quicker you are, it makes it extremely difficult to get past," he said.

"He drove fantastically well and then we were in with a good shot for third place until the poor pitstop.

"I am not sure what the problem was, we will have to look into it. I think we need a new wheel gun."

Hamilton overcame the setback and almost overhauled Toyota's fourth-placed Italian Jarno Trulli in a thrilling chase to the line.

"I pushed very hard to get fourth at the end and I really wanted that point and believed we could get it but Jarno did a great job," he said.

"I did the best job I could with it but I also had run out of water - I didn't run out of water, it (the bottle) just didn't work so I am very, very thirsty."

The fifth place left Hamilton three points clear of Ferrari's race winner Kimi Raikkonen and Germany's Nick Heidfeld on 14 points.

His McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen is a point further back after finishing third.

"I feel better than I did last year and we just need to improve in qualifying on this circuit," Hamilton said.

"Without the penalty, I believe we could have finished in second place but this is racing, those are the rules. We must look forward to the next race, we are still leading.

"The reliability of the car is fantastic, I could keep pushing the entire way and almost got fourth."

Hamilton was hoping for better luck in the next race in Bahrain on April 6.

"We will bounce back in Bahrain. We were quick there last year and I believe we have the car to be quick again."