Heidfeld Surprised to Finish Second

The Williams driver, who claimed his maiden F1 pole on Saturday, looked set to finish third until McLaren rival Kimi Raikkonen retired on the last lap while leading.

The incident meant Heidfeld grabbed his second consecutive runner-up spot, having also finished second at the Monaco Grand Prix one week ago.

"I was amazed," admitted Heidfeld after the race. "After pole I didn't expect to win, I thought if everything went perfect I would be third.

"You always want to win but I am very happy with second. We started from pole but I knew it would be hard to win. I would have thought that if everything worked out perfectly I could have finished third and then with Kimi we got second."

Heidfeld, who relied on an unusual three-stop strategy to score his third podium of the season, has moved into fourth place in the standings, two points behind Raikkonen and Toyota's Jarno Trulli.