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Lewis Hamilton described the Australian Grand Prix as one of the finest drives of his career, and blamed a poor strategy and Mark Webber's mistake for costing him a good finish.

The McLaren driver fought through from 11th on the grid to challenge Robert Kubica for second by half-distance, but then pitted for fresh tyres along with most of the field.

Jenson Button, Robert Kubica, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso decided to nurse their tyres to the finish, though, leaving Hamilton back in fifth. He caught the battle between the Renault and the two Ferraris, then was pushed into a spin by Webber with two laps to go and finished only sixth.

"To sum up the race I think I probably had one of the drives of my life and unfortunately, due to the strategy, I was put further back and then I got taken out by Mark Webber," Hamilton told the BBC.

"I'm happy with the job that I did. I think I honestly drove my heart out today and I think I deserved better than what I ended up with, but I'll keep fighting to the next race."

Hamilton had criticised McLaren's strategy over the radio, and he remained certain that pitting for a second time had been the wrong move.

"All I know is the guys do, always, a fantastic job, but the strategy was not right," he said. "Everyone else in front of me did one stop and for some reason I did two."

When asked whose decision the second stop had been, Hamilton replied: "I don't know, we'll find out."