BUDAPEST, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - A relieved Lewis Hamilton hailed his McLaren Mercedes team-mate Heikki Kovlainen on Sunday after seeing the Finn claim his maiden Formula One victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Nordic man's win secured Hamilton's position as leader in this year's drivers' world championship with an increasing advantage of five points despite picking up a puncture in a dramatic race.

Hamilton, 23, finished fifth and now leads the title race with 62 points ahead of defending champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen who, after finishing third for Ferrari, has 57. Brazilian Felipe Massa who led the race until his Ferrari's engine blew up three laps from the end is now third with 54 points.

'It could have been a heck of a lot worse,' said Hamilton.

'So big congratulations to Heikki for his first win and what a great result for us all! The way it worked out we have taken points from our rivals in this race.

'In the end I think I salvaged the best result I could from the worst kind of circumstances - after the puncture it could have been much worse. Last year I think I lost the title because of punctures so I needed to score some points after all that happened.

'I was disappointed with my start when Felipe got ahead of me and he drove away and got the job done. I did my best to keep with him but my tyres went off and I struggled and then I had a flat spot.

'But I had no idea about the puncture. It came at turn one so I was lucky to get around the lap and then to finish the race on soft tyres was something else! In the end, it was nothing like as bad as it could have been.'

Hamilton started the day as leader with a four points advantage and started the race from pole position - but after losing his starting grid opportunity and having a puncture he ended up ahead by five points.

'It's strange how it can work out and I am happy enough,' he said. 'Now we have to find out what happened, how we got the puncture and the debris and then get back to work.'