Minardi Hit by Electronic Problem

"After our strong showing in Imola we are obviously disappointed as we were expecting more here. But we look forward to the next race," said Sauber.

Brazilian Felipe Massa was running in the points until he suffered a problem with his rear left tyre with three laps remaining.

He was classified 11th.

"I think I drove a good race, but the pace was just too strong for us today," admitted Massa. "Everybody who finished in front of us was quicker.

"As for the problem at the end, I felt the left rear tyre deflate as I came through the last corner, so that was it. We discovered afterwards that the wheel rim had cracked, which let the air leak out."

Massa's teammate Jacques Villeneuve was forced to retire with an engine failure 47 laps into the race.

"Quite early on my engine began losing water and as it steadily got hotter I began losing power," Villeneuve said.

"The biggest problem was that I started with a lot of fuel intending to run longer, but just as I got to the point where my fuel load had gone down and I should have been able to start lapping quickly I got stuck in traffic, so we were unable to maximise our strategy.

"In the end the engine failed because of the water loss."