Rosberg positive despite no points

The German had to start from the back of the grid after having problems during qualifying.

He made progress with an aggressive strategy, but had to settle for a distant 12th position. Despite that, he was encouraged by his team's pace.

"Due to having to start so far back, we decided to go for an aggressive strategy," said Rosberg. "I attacked from lap one and managed to overtake a few people at the beginning of the race, which I really enjoyed. I then became stuck behind Coulthard and I tried to pass him.

"He messed up, went wide and pushed me onto the grass. After that, I didn't get another chance to pass him. Despite the poor result in the race, the positive aspect is that I feel I have been on the pace all weekend. We have to look ahead now.

Teammate Alex Wurz finished in 13th place after making contact with Toro Rosso's Scott Speed on lap 30.

"I started 13th and finished 13th, so naturally I am not happy that we didn't manage to make any progress today," said Wurz. "I think, looking back, the risky combination of the option tyre and my heavy fuel load meant that traction would be difficult and I didn't have a very good start, so the strategy didn't really pay off.

"However, when the car was lighter and we moved onto the other tyres, the lap times were pretty good. Around lap 30, I used the opportunity of the blue flags to out-brake Speed after he left the door open, but after I went through, he hit my rear wheel. His race was over, but fortunately I was able to continue with no problems."