Hamilton says he could have won

The Briton, who had qualified in 15th position, charged through the field to climb up to second place before making his first pitstop.

Hamilton was hoping to pit just once, but when the track began to dry up, the McLaren driver had to pit again to put on intermediates.

In the end, Hamilton finished in seventh place, just behind championship rival Felipe Massa.

"I felt I drove a really good race and was moving through the field very quickly when the circuit was at its wettest," said Hamilton.

"If it had kept on raining, I feel pretty confident I probably could have even won from 15th grid position; but, as the circuit dried out, my tyres overcooked and I had to defend my position from Mark Webber.

"Still, today was all about damage control: I came away with some points and kept my lead in the world drivers' championship."

Ron Dennis echoed Hamilton's thoughts, and the team boss too believed the Briton was on his way to a podium finish.

"Lewis made excellent progress in the wet conditions early on, moving swiftly from 15th on the grid to a potential point-scoring position, and he could well have been able to record a podium finish had the rain persisted and had he therefore been able to maintain his one-stop strategy," Dennis said.

"As it was, he was forced to make an unscheduled stop in order to exchange his extreme-wet tyres for wet-weather tyres, which dropped him back down the field."