Jordan delighted with points

Heidfeld made full use of the team's opportunist pit strategy to fight his way right into the thick of the midfield as soon as the front-runners made their first stops.

With the race then evolving into one of the most exciting and unpredictable grands prix in recent memory, Heidfeld clung on through the carnage to score two points, making full use of the safety car periods to make his stops.

"I can't tell you how happy I am," said Heidfeld, "scoring not just one but two points. This means a lot for me and also for the team at the moment. I think we employed the right strategy when the safety cars came out. I managed to keep the car on the circuit which was important today as was the fact that we had no mechanical problems."

Jordan's head of engineering Jame Robinson reckoned the myriad incidents played right into the team's hands. "It's difficult to know how it would have worked without the safety cars, as obviously we made very good use of those with two very quick calls to bring Nick in for both pit stops that proved effective in the race," he said. "It's great to get our first two points on the board and to get Nick home.

"We are disappointed for Giorgio who was running well and would have had a good crack at the points today given the carnage out there."

The Italian never really got going and picked up a gearbox problem that stopped him shifting down. He pitted on lap 14 and was retired from the race.

Eddie Jordan is not known as one to miss an opportunity to laud his team's success, but this time he saved something for race winner Jarno Trulli, who started from the front row at Monaco in a Jordan four years ago. "This has been an outstanding day," he said. "Firstly I'm overjoyed about Nick's drive and his getting some points, which we so badly needed. But I want to congratulate Jarno Trulli on his first win.

"It would be hard to describe how he must be feeling now especially as his first victory has come in Monaco. Jarno has been a good friend to everyone at Jordan and we wish him every success."