Salo Downbeat after 'Disastrous' Race

Finn Mika Salo was unhappy after completing what he said was a disastrous Italian Grand Prix, where he finished in 11th place.

The Toyota driver was running in the points when he dived into the pits for his first and only scheduled stop, but when he was rejoining the race he crossed the while line at the exit of the pitlane and received a drive-through penalty that ended his hopes of a top-six finish.

"That was pretty much a disastrous race," said Salo. "I struggled with oversteer because my first set of tyres were blistered really badly. My only scheduled pit stop went well, but I was concentrating in my rear-view mirrors when I left the pits and crossed the white line, so I was given a drive-through penalty.

"That ruined the race for me, putting me back in 11th place. Without that penalty I would have scored points today. I'm not happy."

Teammate Allan McNish was also running in the top six when he was forced to come into the pits to check his front suspension before retiring a lap later.

"It looks like we had a failure in the front suspension," he said. "I felt it first near the start of the race and the car became inconsistent particularly under braking at Ascari. Unfortunately it just got worse and we were not able to cure it, putting me out of the race.

"I made a great start and was up to 6th after 10 laps. It is a big disappointment to retire from a points scoring position. We had a real chance today."