Barrichello blames the weather

The Ferrari ace had looked dominant throughout qualifying but it all went wrong for him on Sunday afternoon when his team's Bridgestone tyres proved no match for rivals Michelin in the tricky weather conditions at the start of the race.

The team's reluctance to switch to dry tyres as soon as Montoya and second placed finisher Kimi Raikkonen had further compounded his problems as he dropped down the field - before he eventually recovered to take third place.

"The conditions were not favourable," said Barrichello afterwards. "With the rain at the start and in the damp we were not the fastest and I think if it stayed dry then we would have had good pace, and if it had been wet as well then I think we would have been okay.

"It was a hard race. The car was all over the place and we lost all the time at the beginning of the race."

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn echoed Barrichello's belief that the changing weather conditions caught the team out - although the success of the Bridgestone tyres over the course of the season means he has little reason to be unhappy.

"We had to start on the wets and it was difficult for us to get going on the dries," explained Brawn. "We were quite a bit slower on the dries and it was a little bit of a disappointment - but the conditions were not good for us."

He added: "Our tyres have been fantastic this season so we cannot complain. We will forget about this race and remember the season we had."