The team's prospects in the season-opening race had looked grim on Saturday night after Hamilton qualified a full second behind pole sitter Seb Vettel but the 2008 World Champion produced surprisingly competitive speed during Sunday's GP.
Though he would most probably have had to settle for fourth but for Vettel's Red Bull suffering a broken exhaust, he consistently matched the speed of both Ferrari and Red Bull after overtaking Nico Rosberg at the first round of pitstops.
"Great job this weekend guys. Car felt pretty good throughout the race, very happy. Great stops," Hamilton told the team over his radio.
"Unfortunately I was held up by Rosberg for most of the first half of the race. It's very difficult to follow [another car] here and I think if I had got past him then I would have been able to keep up with the train these guys [Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso] created.
"It's a strong result and definitely more than we expected."
Source: Planet-F1
