Lewis Hamilton will have to miss winning for another two weeks, despite driving what he feels was the best race of his career.

For 58 laps of the Turkish Grand Prix, Hamilton drove with the fear a tyre would explode, as happened last year at the Istanbul Park.

On that occasion, the 23-year-old just managed to save his McLaren as it hurtled off the circuit at 200mph.

In finishing fifth after running a comfortable third, it was one of those moments that conspired to cost him the title.

A combination of Hamilton's driving style and the set-up of his McLaren, following investigations by tyre suppliers Bridgestone, forced the team into a three-stop strategy for today's race.

The shorter stints ensured less tyre wear and a lesser chance he would again fly off the track with shredded rubber.

With that in mind, Hamilton drove brilliantly to claim the runner-up spot behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who clinched a hat-trick of wins at this circuit.

Hamilton initially beat team-mate Heikki Kovalainen into turn one after the Finn had started on the front row of the grid for the first time in his career.

Then the Briton was embroiled in a tense duel with Massa as he tried to make the most of his strategy, at one stage conjuring a superb overtaking manoeuvre on lap 24 to claim the lead.

But the tyre issue and three pit-stop plan were always going to conspire against him - although only just as he came within a whisker of victory courtesy of brilliant driving and fine team work.

"That was the best race I've ever done," reflected Hamilton, who earlier this week remarked how much he missed that winning feeling.

"In a race, it doesn't matter if you win or not, it's whether you drive 100%, whether you extract the most out of the car.

"It's when you end the race and you ask yourself and the team, 'could we have done a better job?'

"I strongly feel we couldn't have done a better job here. The pit-stops were almost perfect, if not perfect.

"My in-laps, my out-laps, they were stronger than ever, and I just feel my race pace is getting stronger with each race.

"I had a strong showing in Barcelona (a fortnight ago), and it was even stronger here - and we overtook a Ferrari!

"Also, my predicted race finish was fifth. It could have been a lot worse if I hadn't have moved up to second at the start.

"But for that charge into turn one, I could have come sixth or even worse.

"But with the three-stop strategy no-one else had out there, I feel we did a fantastic job to get second, and I'm happy with that."

The tyre situation, unique for Hamilton and only on this track, was always a concern.

He added: "It was on my mind at some stages.

"There were times when I felt vibrations and I wasn't sure whether it was the tyre or a flat spot I had picked up earlier on.

"I was always checking my tyre on the exit of turn eight because last year coming out of there, my tyre exploded.

"I made sure I kept an eye on that so I could report to the team as soon as possible should there be anything and possibly come in.

"There's nothing worse than having a tyre blow out at 200mph, so we tried to avoid that. It was all down to safety.

"They (the team) were worried. Obviously, we didn't want to have another incident like the last race here.

"Unfortunately, it put us on the back foot. Without a three-stop, we might have had a better chance of winning the race."

Massa's victory, the seventh of his career, and Hamilton's second place means the duo are level on points, closing the gap to title leader Kimi Raikkonen to just seven after the reigning world champion finished third.

The BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were fourth and fifth, with Renault's Fernando Alonso sixth, the Red Bull of Mark Webber seventh, whilst Williams' Nico Rosberg claimed a point in eighth.Red Bull's David Coulthard remained pointless after he finished ninth, whilst Honda's Jenson Button was 11th, three places ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello on the occasion of his record-breaking 257th grand prix.

Kovalainen, meanwhile, is 21 points adrift of Raikkonen after his left-rear tyre was punctured by his compatriot after being clipped at turn one on the first lap.

Despite a number of excellent overtaking manoeuvres as he charged through the field on each occasion after his stops, Kovalainen could only manage 12th.

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