Firman scores his first points

Fisichella had rig failure in his first pitstop, then was delivered too much fuel and, finally, became the race's final retirement when his car was blighted by an engine problem.

Chief Executive Eddie Jordan effervesced at Ralph's first point: "I'm delighted for Ralph scoring his first point so early in his first season of F1. The car has let him down at three races, so it's only the second one that he's finished and a points result is something to be proud of. From a team point-of-view, we're glad to add another point to our total, which is already higher than we got in all of last season."

"It was brilliant," recounted Firman. "When the Safety Car came out my engineer Dominic called me in for a pitstop which obviously worked out well as it effectively changed my strategy to two real stops. I had a really good middle stint to the third stop, but when I came back out Ralf Schumacher had been off and was weaving all over the circuit. I couldn't get past him, which is ironic as he's usually complaining that people don't move over for him! Anyway, once my tyres were worn, there was no chance of overtaking him, but I managed to hold off Button and keep my position."

Fisichella was less happy with events: "I had a lot of problems. First of all, we had a rig failure and had to use the other rig, which then put too much fuel in the car. Then, after a few laps, a bargeboard broke and I lost a lot of grip. Finally, I had an engine problem. I don't know what it was, but I kept losing speed and had to reture."