Lewis Hamilton said the Ferrari he drove in the wet-dry British Grand Prix "was the most difficult car I've driven in these conditions".

The seven-time champion finished fourth at Silverstone behind the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The race started on a damp track which dried a little before a heavy rain shower and then dried again. The event was packed with incident and featured three safety cars.

"The car was unbelievably tricky to drive. I think ultimately I learned a lot today, there's lots to take from the day," said Hamilton, who has won a record nine British Grands Prix.

"It's only my second time driving in the wet in this car. I can't even express to you how hard it is. It's not a car that likes those conditions.

"For me, (it's important) to sit down with the people that are designing the car for next year. Because there's elements of this car that cannot go into the following year."

Hamilton said Ferrari had upgrades coming to the car in forthcoming races - these would follow a new floor that was introduced at the previous race in Austria.

The 40-year-old said he wanted "a consistent balance, a car that turns at a low speed, just a more stable car".

He added: "We were looking great through this weekend. In practice. we were always right up there. Still weren't able to fully extract everything in qualifying. And then the race is a little bit harder. So that's where I want to get stronger."

Hamilton's third fourth place of the season means he is still to finish on the podium since joining Ferrari at the start of this season.

Team-mate Charles Leclerc finished second-last in 14th after making the wrong call to come in for slick tyres on a damp track after the formation lap. His race spiralled downhill from there.

Leclerc said: "We were kind of nowhere the whole race, and when I say nowhere it's like really nowhere, I was a second off (the pace) and on top of that I was doing lots of mistakes.

"I was really struggling to keep the car on track so it was an incredibly difficult day."

Team principal Frederic Vasseur said: "The main issue we had today was that we struggled a lot when we were in the dirty air to overtake.

"We spent our lives overtaking sometimes 10 laps and then we were much faster. I think it was a difficult weekend, difficult for the strategy."