Super Aguri duo rue first corner incident

Renault's Fisichella made contact with Trulli at the start, sending the Italian into a spin, his Toyota coming to a stop in the middle of the track.

Both Super Aguri drivers had to take avoiding action in order to not hit Trulli, thus losing several positions.

Davidson, who had shone in qualifying, had to settle for 14th place after that.

"It was a good start, but then I got sandwiched going into Turn One between Coulthard and Fisichella," said Davidson.

"Fisichella and Trulli touched, Trulli spun and I had to go on the outside of him off the track and when I rejoined I touched another car and damaged my front end, which definitely affected the balance of my car.

"It was a tough race from there on really. We had a good strategy. We got ahead of the Toro Rosso, which was who I was fighting with all race, so it is a shame to have had a bit of contact at the start. After that, it was a good clean race and it felt good to finish another Grand Prix."

Sato went on to finish down in 18th place.

"It was a tough race," the Japanese said. "I did not have a very good start off the line, but I held my position. I was optimistic that I would be able to gain some positions in the back of the queue into Turn One, but just in front of me one of the Toyota cars spun and completely blocked my line.

"I had to brake really hard and to avoid him I had to go round the outside and I lost many places. From then on I had a very tough race and nothing else really happening.

"It is a shame to finish the race weekend like this, but we just struggled with grip all weekend and continue to lack the pace."