Formula1:Second place in the Spanish GP 'Damage limitation'- Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton congratulates race winner Nico Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton has described second place in the Spanish GP as a successful “damage limitation” act after dicing with disaster on the first lap.

After a slow start off the line, which Hamilton described as “one of the worst I can remember”, the world champion was briefly relegated as low as fourth before repassing Williams' Valtteri Bottas around the outside of the first corner.

But as team-mate Nico Rosberg disappeared into the distance, Hamilton struggled to find a way past Sebastian Vettel with a botched pit-stop, and the notorious difficulty of overtaking at Barcelona, thwarting his attempted recovery.

“I fought hard but unfortunately this is track is the worst for overtaking and it's impossible to follow here. It doesn't matter what you do, you can't get close enough,” Hamilton said. "Even with DRS, it wasn't enough and I did everything I could behind Sebastian."

Vettel was only overcome when Hamilton switched to a three-stop strategy with the Englishman’s subsequent late-race pace giving Rosberg a brief scare before the world championship leader accepted defeat. It was the first time that Hamilton had been beaten by Rosberg last year's Brazilian GP.

"It was damage limitation for me,” he added. "I was just in recovery."

Hamilton had struggled to find the sweetspot of his W06 throughout the weekend and was on the backfoot even before his slow start after losing his 100% pole position record in qualifying to Rosberg on Satutday.

“It wasn’t bad in the race but today was a very tough day because l had to make up for a bad start and perhaps l was never able to show my true pace."

Rosberg's first victory of the season cuts Hamilton's world championship lead to 20 points after the first five rounds of the 19-date season.