Renault chiefs blast Trulli

Renault chiefs have voiced their dissatisfaction at the way Jarno Trulli lost a podium finish in the closing yards of the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours on Sunday, when he allowed Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello to grab third position on the final lap

Trulli looked set for a third place finish until he braked too late into Chateau D'eau (where he went off twice on Saturday morning) on the final lap and allowed Barrichello a run on him into the relatively new Lycee section of track. Rubens dived down the inside of the Italian into the right-hander, and held the position through the final chicane to finish third.

"Jarno made a mistake and slowed down a bit too much at Turn 13 and I was able to pull alongside him at 15," said Barrichello. "It was risky, but I took the risk and it was worth it.

Trulli admitted: "I made a couple of mistakes today and both of them cost me a lot. That's all. The race was going to plan until the last stint, when the car had less traction and was oversteering a lot.

"I defended against Rubens as much as possible, but on the last lap, he was quicker on the exit of Turn 13 and passed me under braking for the next corner - I tried to close the door, but couldn't. I was very frustrated in the cockpit when the chequered flag came down."

His team chiefs were not impressed at all. When asked his thoughts on what happened, Flavio Briatore simply said: "I don't know. Talk to Jarno."

Engineering chief Pat Symonds was more forthright: "I'm completely gutted. I can't understand something like that, it looked like he left the door completely open. Unbelievable. I shall be talking to him to see what the problem was."