Coulthard: Penalty Cost me Podium

The Scot, who on Saturday said his team were struggling for pace at the Nurburgring, even managed to lead the event after a flying start, where he moved from 12th to fourth by the end of the first lap.

Despite being hit by a penalty for speeding in the pitlane, Coulthard went on to finish in fourth place.

Without the penalty, however, the Scot claimed he would have made it onto the podium.

"I was very happy with the start of the race," Coulthard said. "I'd said to the team beforehand that I was planning to stay on the inside on the first corner, as we've seen incidents there in previous years. We had a very good first sector and were competitive.

"I was disappointed that I made a mistake trying to get out in front of the Minardi in the pitlane. I came off the speed limiter fractionally early and picked up a penalty, which cost us a podium. But, we've got to be satisfied with what we've done here today and I'm happy with the result."

Teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi also had a good start and managed to run in the point-scoring positions, but he eventually had to settle for ninth place after struggling with his car's balance.

"I had some understeer from the beginning of the race, meaning I couldn't push as hard as I'd have liked," said Liuzzi. "Some cars got past me and it was difficult to match their speed, which was a bit disappointing.

"I'd like to have scored some points here but, overall the team's had a good day, so I'm happy."