Nelson Piquet admitted he and his Renault team were lucky to finish second after starting a distant 17th on the grid in Sunday's German Grand Prix.

Piquet, whose father was a three-time world champion, said he and Renault made the most of the safety car regulations and could almost have won the race before Lewis Hamilton's late charge to glory.

"Obviously before the race, we had a bit of a gamble between one and two stops, and we had the option when we started the race," said the Brazilian.

"I think it was perfect strategy because if we'd gone for an aggressive, short first stint and tried to overtake in the beginning, I wouldn't have arrived here (on the podium). So we got lucky, and in the end I just maintained my pace."

Briton Hamilton won for McLaren Mercedes with Piquet second for Renault ahead of compatriot Felipe Massa in a Ferrari.

It was the first time that two Brazilians had stood together on a Formula 1 podium since 1991 when Piquet senior shared a rostrum with Ayrton Senna at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Piquet had scored only two points this year before the race and the result will help him gain confidence in an inconsistent rookie season.

He took full advantage of the safety car period, introduced when Toyota's Timo Glock suffered a frightening crash, and, using a one-stop strategy, emerged in the lead with less than 10 laps to go, but was passed by an aggressive Hamilton in the closing stages.

"I don't even know where to start," said Piquet. "The car was getting better and better in practice, and we were going well until qualifying, where I didn't have a very good run in the first session.

"And then when on the second run I got a bit of traffic, and that was it, so I started from the back. I thought that was how I'd finish my weekend, but then we became quite lucky with these safety car rules.

"The team did a good decision by pulling me in at the right time."

Piquet said it was better for him to not try too hard to keep Hamilton behind him, as he believed he may have put his podium finish in peril.

"After the safety car I knew I just had to keep my pace, and I knew I mustn't push my tyres too hard in the beginning as I had to keep them until the end," he said.

"When I was leading, I knew Lewis would come by quickly and I knew Felipe wasn't that much quicker than me. If I'd taken too many risks (trying to hold Hamilton off), Felipe might have overtaken me.

"So I decided I had to save second place rather than end up in third or fourth and not be so happy."

AFP