Happy Kubica surprised by strong result

The Polish driver, starting from fifth place, stayed out of trouble and benefited from his rivals' problems to even lead the race for a few laps.

He was then unable to match the pace of Lewis Hamilton and had to settle for second, but Kubica was delighted with the result and admitted he was not expecting it.

"I think second place was the maximum for us this weekend and I'm very happy," he said. "I didn't expect us to have the pace to finish second. It was a great race with very difficult driving conditions, and we did not expect such heavy rain.

"I had visibility and tyre problems throughout the whole race. I was trying to do as few mistakes as possible, as it is very dangerous if you make a mistake here."

Nick Heidfeld had a day to forget after finishing four laps down following a crash with Fernando Alonso, who made the German spin when trying to overtake.

"After the awful qualifying yesterday the early laps of the race went very well for me, despite the tricky track conditions," he said. "I was up to fifth, but unfortunately Fernando Alonso made a mistake and crashed into the side of my car.

"This caused heavy damage to the left hand side of my car, and due to a puncture I had to pit. I was then last and, because of the damaged car, I had no chance at all to improve. It is a Sunday to forget. But this is not too easy."