Schumacher laments 'surprise' spin after finish eighth in German GP

The German Mercedes driver lost around 15 seconds when he spun on lap 23 of the Nurburgring race.

Despite that, Schumacher charged back to eighth position, but was still sorry about his error.

"My spin caught me by complete surprise, but that spot is known to be tricky in wet conditions, even if the conditions were not so wet today," said Schumacher.

"Anyway, it obviously cost me some positions which was a shame. Towards the end, rain could have helped but the chances were low so I did not count on it.

"All in all, I am OK with the race. With the little improvements we have made, we can look forward to Hungary now."

Schumacher finished behind team-mate Nico Rosberg, who did not enjoy an easy race after his car did not handle as well as during qualifying.

"I had a good start to the race today and made up one position on the first lap to be running in fifth place," he said. "However I didn't have a perfect set-up today and the car wasn't working quite as well as in qualifying. I had some good battles with Massa but despite pushing hard, it was impossible to keep him behind me.

"Seventh place is OK but we know that we have some work to do to maximise our latest upgrades in the race. I have a great team behind me, both the engineers and the boys in the garage, so I am confident that we will do this and we will see what happens next week in Hungary."