Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Malaysia 2012Lewis Hamilton declared himself satisfied with his second third place in a row despite failing to convert his pole position into a race victory in Malaysia.

The McLaren driver has started from pole in the first two races of the season, but has finished third in both. On Sunday, Hamilton was unable to challenge Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez for victory after a very tricky race, but the Briton was still pleased to be on the podium again.

"I won't complain. I think the car has been good all weekend and the team did a good job and I'm on the podium again, which is my target, to have consistency," said Hamilton.

The Briton admitted he it had been a very tough race to read, given the changing conditions.

"It was an interesting race. Obviously, we would have been much happier if we had finished where we started, but the other two drivers did a fantastic job," he said. "I tried my hardest to catch them. It was just a very eventful race, really. Trying to find the right time to change from the extreme tires to mediums. We were probably a bit late with that, and then to slicks.

"Making the call is down to whether you take the risk or not, and the others went a little bit earlier. We lost a bit of times in our pit stops, so I lost a bit there. Trying to close a 12-second gap was pretty tough."

The British driver is now second in the championship, five points behind Alonso.