Symonds: qualifying lap cost Schumacher

Schumacher was penalized for a slow-lap outside the 110 percent limit in the final part of qualifying, meaning Ferrari were not allowed to refill his car for that tour.

That lost lap almost certainly cost him a few tenths at the first round of pitstops - which proved crucial later in the race when Fernando Alonso jumped him at the second stop.

When asked whether he believed the lap of fuel made the difference, Symonds said: "Yep. It doesn't take a genius to work that one out. I think the first stop was quite critical and it might well have made the difference.

"When it is that tight, any tiny little thing is important. You can probably say that in that race there was some traffic that made the difference as well, people do focus on one thing and forget there were other factors, but yes the fuel thing was significant."

Symonds believes that Ferrari's pace in Bahrain indicates that tyre supplier Bridgestone are now back to full competitiveness after their struggles in 2005.

"I am not quite sure how much they lost their act last year, but we have got very, very different characteristics coming up in the next two races for what is required of the tyres - more so than what is required from the car.

"But they are back, aren't they? They certainly have very good laps early on the tyres, although perhaps they are not quite so good at the end of stints, but the performance is there."

Symonds believes that the evidence of Bridgestone's future potential could have been shown by Williams - who proved very quick at the end of stints. Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap of the race right at the end of one of his runs.

"I didn't really see what Williams did other than in my peripheral vision, but they seemed to be very good. It is interesting that Rosberg got his fastest lap just before a pitstop. In fact, that is scary."