Lewis Hamilton thinks Sunday's second place was a "huge" result for his Mercedes team and says he will not give up on the title fight.
Sebastian Vettel's dramatic victory in the British Grand Prix last weekend extended the German's lead over Lewis Hamilton to eight points in the drivers' standings.
Despite this, an adamant Hamilton says that he will not give up on catching Vettel.
Hamilton dropped to 18th in the first-lap following a controversial collision with
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, which left Hamilton spun.
However, Hamilton clawed his way back to finish runner-up in a quite remarkable drive from the Mercedes man.
"We're in a tough battle this year and it's the most intense battle that I think we've probably all had," Hamilton explained to Crash.
"I'm very, very grateful that the car was still in one piece after the first turn three incident.
"Whilst I appeared, at the beginning, to have lost something on the rear ened, when I looked at the car afterwards it seems to be OK and it was driving better and better throughout the race, so that was a great thing.
"Honestly, to get back to second it's huge for us. I will definitely take it, of course, and I'm happy with the drive that I did."
Hamilton says that he was still expecting to jump back up the grid despite the disaster in the opening lap.
"I had to have that mentality. I was last and I still believed I could win. I had to keep that mentality to get back where I was.
"We'll take it on the chin and keep pushing hard, because believe me I will not give up. I will not give up."