Minardi Duo Happy with Race Finish

Minardi's Gianmaria Bruni was happy to make it to the end of the European Grand Prix despite finishing down in 14th position.

"I'm satisfied with the result, as I had to try and maintain good lap times, but also conserve the rear tyres â€" if I pushed too hard I risked blistering them," said Bruni, who celebrated his 23rd birthday today. "In fact, I'm happy with the tyres Bridgestone has provided us with this weekend.

"If we had had a better balance in the car this afternoon, I think I could have made better use of the tyres and we might have had a stronger result. Even so, I am very pleased to have finished the race."

Bruni finished three laps down but beat Minardi teammate Zsolt Baumgartner, who wound up 15th. The Hungarian, who gave Minardi their best result of the season at the Monaco Grand Prix with a ninth place, was also pleased after finishing the race.

"Generally, we had a good, solid race today," he said. "The biggest problem for me this afternoon was actually the amount of time I lost with blue flags letting other drivers through.

"I'm very happy that we had a reliable car in the race and that I was able to take the chequered flag today."