Albers Blames Webber for Early Incident

Albers made a flying start but claimed Australian Webber pushed him into the Jordan of Tiago Monteiro at the first corner, sending the Minardi driver up in the air.

Albers managed to continue in the race, but a handful of problems meant the Minardi driver had to spend several minutes in the pits before he returned to the track to finish over 10 laps down.

"I had a great start but then, at the first corner, Webber tapped me, I touched Monteiro, and my car went up in the air, shedding quite a few aerodynamic pieces as it landed," Albers said.

"It's a shame, because although the weekend didn't start so well, we had a good qualifying and my car seemed good on new tyres, but after the first-lap incident, the steering was no longer straight and the handling was really nervous. 

"Despite that, I was able to push quite hard at the beginning of the race and felt I was quicker than Karthikeyan, but as the tyres started to fall off a little in performance, the combination of mechanical and aero problems meant we just lost too much in terms of lap time. 

"We then encountered a hydraulic problem, but tried to fix it because you never know if you might still get a point.  Unfortunately, we didn't, but at least it improves my position in the qualifying order for the next race."

Teammate Robers Doornbos retired from the race after he suffered a hydraulic problem, but the Dutch driver was encouraged with his performance.

"My second Grand Prix was again an exciting race," he said. "For me, it was quite a positive race - I was catching the Jordans and I'm sure I could have passed them and finished in front of them. 

"Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, but thanks to all my mechanics for their efforts, and now we look forward to Turkey with the aim of finishing in front of the Jordans."