Nakajima penalised for Kubica incident

The Japanese driver scored his first world championship points for finishing sixth, but only after having his nosecone replaced following the incident on lap 47. Kubica was less fortunate and was forced to retire from the race.

Nakajima, who twice had to pit for new bodywork in a chaotic race, was nevertheless pleased to have made it through the carnage to continue his 100% finishing record in Formula One.

"To get to the end today was great, great to finish and great to get some points," he said. "It was really tough out there today physically, but on top of that there was so much going on. At the start, a car spun in front of me, turned side on and damaged my nose.

"Then with the various safety car periods, the team did a great job to swap my strategy to a one-stop that put me in the points. Towards the end of the race, I had another incident when all the cars backed up into each other and I damaged my nose again. But it was good to be able to demonstrate my physical fitness and my consistency and I'm looking forward to Sepang which is a circuit I know better."

Nakajima's three points in addition to those scored by Nico Rosberg, who finished on the podium for the first time in his F1 career, means that Williams are second in the constructors' point standings.

Williams technical director Sam Michael commented: "It's a fantastic start to the season, we knew we had the potential in the car but didn't realise it because of the reliability problems we had in practice, but that all came out in the race.

"Nico kept his head down through lots of difficult situations, he had good strong car pace throughout the race and congratulations to him for his first podium," he added. "Kazuki did well too despite being involved in two incidents. Both cars had solid reliability throughout the race and it's great to go away with a haul of points from the first grand prix."