Monteiro Happy with 10th Finish

Monteiro, who finished in third place at the United States Grand Prix two weeks ago, extended his record as the rookie with most consecutive race finishes by making it to the end of the Magny-Cours race, albeit in 13th place over three laps down.

The Jordan driver has now finished 10 consecutive races.

"It was a good race for me," said Monteiro. "I had a good pace, did not encounter any problem and was able to push hard. I was also satisfied with the balance of my car. I think there is less and less gap with the people in front of us, which is a good sign, but we must keep on improving the car.

"I had another finish today, which is good for my record. I had a lot of problems during the weekend, but the car was perfect again for the race. The reliability was great and I would like to thank everyone for that."

Teammate Narain Karthikeyan was hindered by a gearbox problem right from the start of the race and struggled to keep his usual pace, dropping down to 15th position, four laps down.

"I had a great start and was running in front of Klien but then on lap 3, I had a gearbox selection problem," explained Karthikeyan. "I did not have the third and the fifth gear, so it meant that I had to shift from the second gear directly to the fourth and here, there are a lot of corners in third and fifth.

"Therefore that problem cost me a lot of time. It is a shame, as I was quick all weekend. I am really disappointed and unlucky, but now I will focus on the British Grand Prix next weekend."