Schumacher 'Fortunate' to Claim Third Place

World Champion Michael Schumacher admitted he was lucky to finish in third place after Briton Jenson Button was forced to slow down in the final lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Ferrari driver Schumacher ended third behind brother Ralf and Juan Pablo Montoya after problems hampered Button on the last lap to leave the Renault driver in fourth. Schumacher admitted he was lucky to claim a place on the podium thanks to Button's misfortune - but insisted it is a part of Formula One.

"He had a suspension problem, I would assume, because the car was out of balance quite a lot," Schumacher said. "He couldn't brake so he was very unfortunate. It must have happened on the last couple of laps. It was very fortunate for me, obviously. I'm very happy but that's the way things go."

Schumacher was forced to weave through the field after his opening corner collision with the Williams of Montoya and he hailed the reliability of his Ferrari after rising to third place.

"I kept on pushing," he added. "There are moments when you think 'let's try' - there's always an opportunity, sometimes, and it came up.

"It was very lucky, you can't foresee this, but if we had started to ease off some laps before the end, maybe it wouldn't have been enough to catch him up again. Thanks to that, and the car being reliable and very consistent, I was able to do it."