Hamilton upbeat despite British woe

Championship leader Hamilton put his McLaren on pole during qualifying, but he made mistakes and the pace of his car simply could not match that of Ferrari's winner Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton, who trailed home third, with team-mate Fernando Alonso a close second, said: "I wanted to be on pole - I achieved that - and I felt strongly we could have had a better result. This is obviously not the best result for us, but to come to your first home grand prix and still get on the podium, I have to look on the bright side."

He added: "I've had nine podiums in a row, and I'm very happy with that."

Hamilton is now equal third, and on an impressive list of drivers who have achieved nine successive podium finishes, with only seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher (19) and Alonso (15) ahead of him.

He concedes, though, he needs to show significant improvement if he is to become world champion in his debut year.

"I need to step up my game, which I intend to do," added Hamilton, who now leads Alonso by 12 points and Raikkonen by 18.

"As a team we need to push, as always, but try to push even more if we can. As for me as a driver, I'm still learning and I've still time to find in myself through experience.

"We're going to a few tracks I know, so it should really make the weekend a little bit easier, but it doesn't.

"I've struggled to get the pace, so it's making sure the car is set up right, that we keep on moving forward with the car - and ideally beat the Ferraris."