Hamilton takes positives after tough day

Hamilton finished in sixth position after spinning and going off the track several times at the wet Shanghai circuit.

The McLaren driver conceded it had not been a great day, but was satisfied to leave with some points.

"Just that we finished and obviously the reliability of the car is fantastic, so it was great job from the guys," Hamilton told the BBC about the positives from the race.

"Just continue to try and move forward and try and score some more points. Good points for the team."

Hamilton admitted the conditions were very hard, and said he struggled to keep the tyres in good shape.

"It was terrible," he said of the conditions. "It was a little bit fun at the beginning when I had some grip. But as always, I don't know if it is my driving style or my car, we seem to destroy my tyres very early on.

"Especially at the end, there was 20 laps left, and after five laps my front left tyre was finished. So it was just really tough - aquaplaning all over the pace.

"I'm sure it was the same for everyone - but I could only do my best."

The Briton finished behind team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who was pleased with the result and upbeat about the progress made by McLaren.k

"I didn't really expect anything from this race, because in these conditions anything can happen," said Kovalainen. "You can win the race and you can go off very easily. It was just important to try and stay on the track.

"The tyres were quite okay, the car worked pretty well and little-by-little we were able to work to the front and the strategy worked out quite okay. It was a pretty good end to the weekend, and in these difficult conditions to be able to score a few points.

"We have clearly gone forwards with the car, which is the most important thing, and now the next race we have a few more updates and we will try to do even better."

He added: "I think to finish the race is a big relief, a big bonus. To go through everything in a difficult race, to manage the race we can be happy about. The team has done a really good job with the strategy, and also we managed to improve the car during the pitstop.

"Everything is going fine and we just need an extra bit of performance, which we know is going to come, and then we will be fighting for the victories."

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh also welcomes the result, the best of the season so far.

"Very, very difficult for everyone out there," said Whitmarsh. "For us, solid points, which is worthwhile. Lewis was trying very hard and made it exciting. Obviously he had a few spins, but that's just his determination and perhaps his confidence to push so hard in these conditions.

"For Heikki, who hasn't had much running in the races this year, to get to the end without any mistakes at all was a fantastic drive by him.

"Overall we weren't going to live with either the Red Bulls or the Brawns today, so to have some solid points was a great effort by the team."