Lewis Hamilton has explained the thinking behind the decision to start today's race on slicks.

The Briton, along with his Ferrari teammate, was one of 13 drivers to opt for slicks at the start, while Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli opted for Inters.

In no time at all those on the green-banded rubber were heading the field while Hamilton had dropped to 16th, and teammate, Charles Lecelrc was last after pitting following a clash with Nico Hulkenberg at the start.

As well as fitting a new front wing, Leclerc switched to Inters and soon began working his way through the field, passing Hamilton in the process.

In the aftermath of Valterri Bottas's retirement, and the resultant Safety Car, Hamilton, along with the rest of the field, pitted and switched to slicks.

"I said, 'Look, there was a lot of spray on the laps to the grid'." explained the seven-time world champion of the original decision to start on slicks. "I went into the pit lane, I looked at the ground, I was like, 'It's still wet'.

"And they're like, 'Yeah, but because it's been so long, it's definitely going to dry up real quick and maybe we're already in the crossover'." he continued.

"So, anyways, as a team, we ended up taking the soft and when we were at the end of the pit lane and these two took off their blankets and they're on Inters, we were in trouble," he admitted, referring to Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli.

"As we pulled out, all the spray came out the back of Max's car and I was like, 'Okay, I'm done. My race is really in trouble'. So, I mean, he didn't make it around on the formation lap, so then we just had to stick with it. Like, we've made the decision and live with it."

While his teammate was able to use his broken wing to stop and make the switch, Hamilton wasn't prepared to gamble.

"Everyone's overtaken me, they're like, 'We stop', because I know we've already made another 26 seconds. What's the difference from that with one minute forty or whatever I was down? So I was just, 'Let's just wait it out for the track to dry'. And once it did, it felt good that I was catching people.

"The car felt great after that," he continued. "Really good pit stops from my guys in the garage and then good strategy. But for us to get back to the podium, I never thought that that was going to be the case. But, of course, I'm really, really grateful that we managed to get back here."

Realising its mistake, in the early stages the team tried to get Hamilton to pit for Inters, but he insisted that he stick with the gamble that was the slicks.

"Yeah, I'm not going to go to the casino with the guys!" he laughed.

While he believes the original decision cost him potential victory, he remains fully confident in his team.

"We'll definitely have an open dialogue," he said. "You know, I'm really so proud of my team. The mechanics every weekend, just the work they're putting in, the engineers that accompany here every weekend, the catering, everyone really, really comes and gives it their best.

"Their heart's all in the right spot. We've definitely got areas that we need to improve and we know that, and we're not in any denial of that. So I think we'll have a constructive chat, we'll regroup, we'll take the positives from this weekend, which the car was really good, and we'll come back next week fighting.

"I thought today, as I said, was a chance for us potentially to try and fight Max for the win, but maybe we can do that next week."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Sepang here.