Heidfeld welcomes points finish

Although the team shined during practice, topping the times both on Friday and Saturday, they were unable to transform that into qualifying or race pace.

Heidfeld eventually inherited a point from eighth when Toyota's Jarno Trulli retired.

The German, however, lamented a wrong call by the track marshals, which saw him allowing McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa to pass him for seventh place.

"My car was okay, I scored a point and more was not possible today," he said. "Unusually for me, my start was only average. I didn't gain any positions, but I didn't lose any either. On the first lap I overtook David Coulthard in the hairpin, and that was important as at the finish he was only a few seconds behind me.

"All in all my race was trouble free and I rarely got stuck in traffic, although I was wrongly shown blue flags for Pedro de la Rosa."

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve finished in 11th place after starting from the back of the grid.

"The beginning was exciting and I had to overtake Rubens Barrichello, but after that it was quite a boring race," he said. "The car was very good. When I came in for the pit stops the tyres were good and then for a few laps I needed to run them in, but by the end of the runs they were quick again.

"It was the right choice, we thought it was a big risk but, as we expected, once the track rubbered in it worked well. The only problem was my qualifying result."