Hamilton: P7 good enough after sleepless night

The Mercedes driver had a torrid day on Saturday and qualified down in 14th position, moving up to 13th on the grid due to Jenson Button's grid penalty.

After struggling for pace for most of the weekend, Hamilton revealed he had not slept much after qualifying.

The Briton opted for a very long first stint on ultrasoft tyres in the race and managed to climb to seventh position at the end.

Hamilton saw the result as very positive and said it allows him to move forwards after a tough weekend.

"I do have the smartest strategists," said Hamilton. "Today they said the best [possible] result was looking like a 10th. So I went in with a positive mentality, pushed as hard as I could.

"I'm really, really happy with the result. I might not have won the race, I can't say I particularly enjoyed it. It was kind of boring in the first part and at the end where you couldn't overtake, but the middle part where I was in clear air I enjoyed.

"I came in this morning feeling terrible, I didn't sleep a lot last night. But to come away with the points that I've come away with, I can honestly move away from this and move forwards."

Teammate Valtteri Bottas finished down in fourth position, having started from third on the grid.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff conceded the team had simply not been fast enough, and said there is "a lot to understand" before the next race in Canada.

"You have to admit our car was not quick enough this weekend," said Wolff. "We were caught on the back foot on Thursday afternoon and we somehow never recovered.

"The guys were in the window, and then out the window, and in the race you could see the same pattern. There were certain stages in the race when Lewis was really fast. So there is a lot to understand.

"We have time until Montreal, a difficult track again, but we need to get on top of things."