Hamilton keeps calm after costly Malaysian pitstop

By John O'Brien

SEPANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton's thirst for victory remained unquenched on Sunday after the Formula One championship leader laboured to fifth place in the Malaysian heat.

The Briton was already on the back foot after being handed a five-place grid penalty for impeding cars in qualifying, and his problems were only exacerbated by a bungled pitstop and malfunctioning water bottle.

Despite it all, the 23-year-old McLaren driver kept his sense of humour.

"I could do with a beer," Hamilton said when asked what had gone through his mind during the first pitstop that lasted an interminable 20 seconds and cost him any chance of a podium finish.

Hamilton had qualified fourth but was demoted to ninth on the starting grid for holding up rivals including former team mate Fernando Alonso, the double world champion he fell out with last season at McLaren.

There was nothing he could do to prevent Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen cruising to victory, but Hamilton might have been on the podium without the pitstop delay.

He had climbed to fifth place after the first lap but was struggling to find a way past Australian Mark Webber's Red Bull before the first stop when the team struggled to remove his right front wheel.

"I was pushing Mark for a long, long time but being behind someone is extremely difficult so it doesn't matter how much quicker you are, it makes it extremely difficult to get past," he said.