Suspension failure costs McNish dear

The Scot, who has yet to score a point in his rookie Formula 1 season, made a brilliant start from 13th on the grid to run sixth in the early stages. With Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen both retiring later in the race, McNish would have been in with a chance of finishing behind just Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine had he made it to the flag.

"I felt [the suspension problem] near the start of the race and the car became inconsistent particularly under braking at Ascari," said McNish. "Unfortunately it just got worse and we were not able to cure it, putting me out of the race.

"It is a big disappointment to retire from a points scoring position. We had a real chance today."

His team-mate Mika Salo felt he was robbed of a points finish because of a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line on the pitlane exit.

"That was pretty much a disasterous race," said the Finn. "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 on 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. Without that penalty I would have scored points today. I'm not happy."

Likewise, team boss Ove Andersson expressed his frustration on missing out on a double points haul on a day when Renault got both cars in the top six after a poorer qualifying performance than Toyota.