Heidfeld explains four-stopper

The German ran ninth early in the race, with team-mate Felipe Massa right behind him. The pair were chasing the Renaults and hoped to stay in with a shout of scoring points. But for Heidfeld, it all went wrong when he came in early for his first stop.

"I thought that the team had called me in on the radio for my first stop, but it turned out they hadn't," he explained. "So when I arrived at the pits nothing was ready, and I had to come in again three laps later.

"Then I got a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane. That was annoying because I felt that the Renaults were holding us up in the early laps even though my car was oversteering quite a bit. It was better on a low fuel load, but with four stops, what can you do? Altogether, a frustrating afternoon."

Massa faired slightly better and finished eighth. He also pulled off a great move on Jarno Trulli late in the race. "I knew I had a chance at Trulli," he said. "When it came I decided that it was gonna be all or nothing. I was quite pleased with that."