Heidfeld happy with race pace

A problem with his fuel rig and then later a transmission failure ended Heidfeld's run, but rookie team-mate Giorgio Pantano made it to the finish for the second race running. The Italian finished in 13th place.

"I had to retire because I was getting stuck in gears for short periods and although at first I was able to shift again, it got worse until I was stuck in fifth gear for more than a lap and after that there was no point carrying on," said Heidfeld. "Realistically the race was over for me after my first pit stop because no fuel went into the car and I had to come in to stop again, very slowly as well so as not to run out of fuel on the circuit.

"I was trying to move up the field when the gears went. Although it's disappointing not to finish because of technical problems, on the positive side I made a really good start and my speed wasn't bad at the beginning. I kept a few cars behind me - Toyota, Jaguar, Sauber - our pace was quite good."

In what were considered extreme conditions this weekend from a temperature point of view, Pantano's performance was accomplished. Especially since his drinks bottle didn't work! "I have to say it was a hard weekend for us, the difficulties started in qualifying when we had a problem with car," he said. "In the end we were able to fix it for the race so I used my original car although it meant starting from the pit lane.

"I think I drove quite a consistent race, but it was just a little bit hard at the end because my drinks bottle didn't work throughout the race and it was quite exhausting by the finish."

Jordan's head of race and test engineering James Robinson commented: "It was disappointing not to get Nick across the line at the end as he did a fantastic start and was running high up the order and one of the last ones to pit which, strategy-wise, was good. Unfortunately the fuel rig failed to deliver fuel on his first stop and he had to pit again, which cost him eight places or so and put him to the back of the field.

"From there he started to fight forward, putting in good lap times, when he had a transmission problem and the car was locked in fifth gear. We asked him to stay out to see if it would clear however it wouldn't so we chose to retire the car.

"Giorgio started from the pit lane as we decided he should go back in his race car and considering that, he was in a fairly good position at the start. He fought on and it was good to get the car home. It's encouraging although somewhat frustrating that we may have had the chance to score a point with Nick as he was fighting with Massa at the beginning and he finished in the points."