Ralf says qualifying cost him points

The German driver endured a disappointing day yesterday, finishing down in 18th position after three consecutive Grands Prix in the top ten.

Schumacher fought his way up the field in the race, but in the end had to be content with 12th position.

"I am not really happy with the result," admitted the German. "I think we had the speed, but I couldn't really push early in the race and the car was not ideal with the hard tyres, so I lost a bit of time. Also, because I was on a one-stop strategy my car was very heavy and that made it hard to push earlier in the race.

"But it was the right strategy as it was very difficult from where we were on the grid. As we have seen on Friday, we have decent race speed and when I was in clear air my pace was not so bad in the end. My lap times got better towards the end of the race and they were actually quite good.

"If our result in qualifying had been better we would have been able to score points. We can definitely expect to fight for points in the remaining races, starting at Monza in two weeks."

Toyota teammate Jarno Trulli had started from ninth, but the Italian was sent into a spin by Giancarlo Fisichella at the first corner, dropping down to the bottom of the field.

He finished the race in 16th place.

"We had the opportunity to get a better result but that is racing," he said. "It was a shame because the car was well balanced throughout the race and this is thanks to the hard work back at the factory. There was no clear lap for me to show my potential but the feeling of the car was good.

"The start went well but unfortunately at the first corner Fisichella hit me at the back and I lost a lot of positions. These things can happen. After that I overtook many cars and I had a lot of battles but when you end up at the back it is so difficult to catch up.

"With our strategy we were hoping to challenge for points but after the first lap that was clearly not possible. Now I will try to forget this race and focus on my home race in Monza. I enjoy racing in Italy so I hope we can get a better result there."