Kovalainen rues lack of pace

"I was on the limit every lap today, and we just didn't have the pace over the full race distance to make up any ground," said the Finn after his fifth consecutive point-scoring finish.

"I got a fantastic start, passed Kubica and was fighting with Heidfeld going into the Curva Grande, but he put me on the grass and I had to back off, which meant I lost a place to Kubica as well.

"After that, it was quite a lonely race. I passed Robert at the first stop, and kept him behind me for the middle stint, but we just didn't have enough pace to come out ahead of Rosberg after my last pitstop. Everybody did a good job today, and there were no mistakes at all.

"But unfortunately, this was the maximum we could do," added Kovalainen, now four points ahead of teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, who endured another difficult day.

The Roman driver, who has not scored a point since the British Grand Prix at the start of July, struggled with his car after making contact with David Coulthard at the start of the race.

Fisichella went on to finish in 12th.

"I made a really good start, then got blocked out by several cars - and ended up losing position to Davidson because of it," he said.

"Coulthard hit the back of my car on lap two I think, and it damaged the rear endplate on the left hand side. I also had understeer all through the race, so the balance wasn't perfect.

"In the first stint, I was losing time behind the Aguri, but it was only near to the pit-stops that I had enough extra pace to pass him into turn 1. After that, we all had pretty much the same strategy, and there was nothing much to do to gain positions.

"So we turned the engine right down, and looked after it because I have to use it again in Spa. Hopefully, things will go better for us there."