With everyone expecting the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to romp away to a 1-2 in Spain, the race was turned on its head when Fernando Alonso took the lead.But it was all change after the second round of pit stops when Vettel and Hamilton emerged in first and second places.
And although the McLaren driver did his utmost to take the lead away from the reigning World Champ, it was not to be.
"I don't think we can be disappointed with today," said Hamilton, who had only words of praise for his McLaren team.
"The team did a fantastic job throughout the pit stops and throughout the weekend, they put us in a fighting position.
"We got the best start and were able to keep up with the Red Bulls and Mark (Webber) in particular as Fernando (Alonso) was holding the Red Bulls up.
"As the race went on we had some serious pace but it was very tough to get past Seb at the end, they were massively quick in high speed corners and in the last corner his downforce was incredibly clear.
"Nonetheless I gave my all and to move forward and score some good points and retain second place is great."
The latter stage of the grand prix saw an intense fight between Vettel and Hamilton with the McLaren driver dogging the German lap after lap.
However, the Brit concedes that even though McLaren have improved their car, the Red Bull is still the quicker of the two.
"We did a great job considering their car is a good step faster than ours," he said.
"Our race pace has improved since last race, that was the positive.
"I wasn't able to follow through high speed Turn 3, obviously Turn 9 and the last corner, I was never able to get close enough to maintain the gap and then able to use the DRS.
"But I am very happy with the job both me and Jenson did and to be able to apply pressure to Red Bull considering the circumstances is good."
Source: Planet-F1
