Lewis Hamilton admitted that he made the wrong tire choice during the early shower in the Chinese Grand Prix, but praised his McLaren teammate Jenson Button for "incredible" judgment and driving.
McLaren ultimately scored a 1-2 at Shanghai, even though Hamilton dropped into the midfield after coming in for intermediates when rain first fell, only to have to return to dries just a few laps later as the rain immediately eased. Button stayed on dry tires throughout that shower and went on to win, while Hamilton charged through to second.
"I had quite an eventful race," Hamilton admitted. "Congratulations to Jenson, he did an incredible job and made a better choice on tires.
"It was tough at the beginning, the weather was not easy for making the call to change tires. I chose very late when I was halfway around the corner and clearly it was not the right choice. We both did a tremendous job, and it's down to the awesome job the team are doing. We are working very well and it's great for the team."
There are still some doubts over Hamilton's result as the stewards are investigating an incident between him and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in the pitlane, which saw the cars race side by side into the pit entry, and then Hamilton get sideways in front of the garages as he exited alongside the Red Bull.
"As far as I am concerned I thought it was OK," Hamilton said. "The team were waiting for quite some time and they waited until it was the right time. As I came out I noticed Sebastian was there and he was pushing me a little bit to the right and we pushed wheels. Otherwise it was fair."