Speed pleased with home race finish

The Toro Rosso driver, who last year was involved in an accident at the start, avoided trouble this time out, but he had to settle for 13th position, two laps down.

"The track was slippery out there and with our low downforce set-up we really needed the track surface to develop more grip for our car to work better," said Speed.

"It was definitely a tough race and just keeping it on the track was in itself a challenge.

"So I am happy to have managed to bring it home in thirteenth place which is not too bad. We need lots of small improvements to move forward but we are working in the right direction."

Teammate Tonio Liuzzi enjoyed a better run following a good start, but the Italian was forced to retire with five laps to go due to a water pressure problem while running in 11th.

"Unfortunately we were too slow in the first stint, where we had chosen an aggressive strategy starting on hard tyres," he said. "I did enjoy a good fight with Fisichella though. But I struggled with rear stability and a lack of grip in the rear. This cost us a lot of time.

"On the softer tyre, our strategy was right as I was brought in just before being lapped. The car felt better but the lack of downforce meant I was always fighting the rear tyres.

"Then at the end the team called me in because of a problem with water pressure. At the Silverstone test we will see if we can make a good step forward for the next race."