Kovalainen: no regrets over gamble

The French squad decided to switch to intermediate tyres when the rain had not yet hit the Nurburgring with less than ten laps to go.

The gamble did not work as planned, however, as the rain took some time to arrive and Kovalainen struggled on track, losing several positions.

In the end the Finn had to be content with eighth.

"There is not too much to say about this afternoon, to be honest," said Kovalainen. "We took some gambles, especially with the wet tyres during my final stop, and they didn't pay off. I had to look after my wet tyres on a dry track until the rain came, and it just took too much out of them to be an advantage.

"But from the position we were in, with one stop still to make, it was a gamble worth taking. This hasn't been a good day for the team, but we managed to score one point at least.

"There is an important test coming up this week, the last before the summer break, and it will be important to get some good answers there, to help us find the right track again in Hungary and Turkey."

Giancarlo Fisichella also suffered from the changeable weather, losing a lot of time at the beginning after lapping with dry weather tyres for an extra lap and then having to wait until Kovalainen pitted.

"We had the opportunity to do well today, but we didn't take advantage of it," Fisichella, 10th, said. "I lost positions with an extra lap on slicks at the beginning, and then queuing in the pits behind Heikki too. After that, we had to run with some heavy fuel loads, and although the car balance was OK, the performance wasn't really there.

"It has been a tough weekend since Friday morning, and we will be working hard before Hungary to make sure we are in a better position when practice begins in Budapest."