“After that I was gone and I was able to keep pushing and pushing. At the end it was quite tough – the softer tyre was definitely the worse tyre and it was a little bit trickier to maintain a decent gap. We turned the engine down and [were] just looking after the car really. We knew we had second place.
“If I needed to go a little bit quicker I could have [done], but there was no real need as he [Raikkonen] was never close enough to do anything. I just tried to keep him at bay.
“It doesn't particularly matter whether you win or not – it's whether you drive at 100 per cent, it's whether you extract the most out of the car. It's one of those times when you end the race and you ask yourself and the team ‘could we have done a better job?' And I strongly feel we couldn't have done a better job.
“My predicted race finish was fifth, so it could have been a lot worse. If I had got a worse start and didn't get away in second, then I probably would have come sixth or even worse. With a three-stop strategy that no one else had, I just feel we did a fantastic job to bring it back up.
“The pit-stops were almost perfect, if not perfect, and I think my in-laps [and] out-laps were stronger than ever. I just feel my race pace is getting stronger and stronger over the year, at each race. We had a strong showing in Barcelona and even stronger here, and we overtook a
Ferrari.
“I think I probably drove the best race I have ever done [and] the result is the result of hard work from all the guys. That's why I still believe that we are the best.”
Looking ahead now to Monaco and Montreal – two races in which he starred during his rookie season in the top flight last year, securing his maiden
F1 success in the latter – Hamilton was in emboldened spirits, confident in the knowledge that
McLaren have narrowed the gap separating the team from arch-rivals Ferrari, and equally aware that the scarlet machines were far from at ease around the two vastly different circuits in 2007.
