Schumacher says seventh represents maximum Mercedes could have achieved

The seven-time champion reiterated during the weekend that he was hoping for a wet race, as he felt it would help Mercedes's chances.

The rain never came during the race, however, and Schumacher dropped from third on the grid to seventh place.

"We achieved what was possible for us today, and we have to be satisfied with that," he said. "We were pretty competitive towards the end of the race, but overall we knew that the characteristics of this circuit wouldn't suit us in normal conditions - we definitely could have done better in the wet.

"Even so, we managed to score a few points, which can be important for the team. Our attention now turns to Hockenheim, our next home circuit, where things should look better in any case."

Team-mate Nico Rosberg said the weekend's poor performance had been unexpected after finishing down in 15th position.

"The whole weekend just hasn't gone to plan for me which is a bit unexpected and really disappointing," he said. "In the race today, I had a poor start and generally we just didn't have the pace.

"Now we need to work hard to improve the car for our next home race at Hockenheim in two weeks time. Hockenheim is a completely different circuit to here which should suit our car better, and we will hope to put on a great show for all of our fans there."