Talking at the post-race press conference, Lewis Hamilton revealed that he had considered withdrawing from this weekend's Grand Prix as a result of a neck spasm.

After a race in which he and his McLaren were unable to match Felipe Massa and the Ferrari F2008, the Englishman said: "I cannot complain with second place. We have had quite a strong weekend."

Then, to the surprise of the assembled media, he added: "I have had a few problems health-wise but still pulled through and had a great team behind me who helped me."

Asked for further details of the 'health problems', he continued: "I had the flu when I arrived, I had pretty hard fevers pretty much every day and low energy. I also had quite a big problem with a spasm in my neck which kind of nearly did lead to me not racing this weekend."

The British media present, concerned that such a problem might compromise Hamilton's title fight, asked for more details.

"I only had it once," said Hamilton. "I just woke up very, very early yesterday, before 5 am, and I had the spasm in my neck. Fortunately I've got a great doctor who was with me the whole way through it. It was so bad that I was struggling to basically stand up and so I had to have injections in my neck and take plenty of painkillers. Fortunately, as I said, I have a great trainer who helped. Pedro (de la Rosa) was looking forward to racing!

"It won't be a problem again, I'm pretty sure," he added. "It was probably something to do with my pillow, the way I was sleeping, because it was just when I woke up. I think I've done a pretty decent job, considering."