Jordans fail to finish

Pantano, who proved a match for his more experienced team-mate in Imola, stopped early in the race after losing hydraulic pressure while running 13th. Heidfeld looked capable of beating both the factory Jaguars before pulling off with transmission problems, this despite the German spinning at Piratella.

"I got a very good start and was in a good position so I'm not happy about retiring," said Pantano, "especially racing in Italy as I was looking to get a good result here. I had to stop because of a problem with the hydraulics.

Although obviously it didn't finish well, the weekend as a whole has been encouraging because the car has been much better and in the race it felt good. I was keeping Fisichella and Raikkonen behind me and I'm hopeful that we can keep improving and improving.

Heidfeld also reported an improvement in performance: "The car was definitely better than it has been in the first three races and we have improved the set-up in terms of understanding the tyres over a race distance.

"I had a high-speed spin at Piratella but managed to get back on the circuit and luckily there was no damage to the car. Overall the car wasn't that bad and I think if I had been able to finish I could have been in front of both Jaguars which would have been good."