Toyota duo were expecting more

The Italian driver, racing at his team's home Grand Prix, had qualified in fourth place, right behind teammate Ralf Schumacher, to give Toyota their best result of the season.

The duo, however, were unable to keep that sort of pace in the race, dropping down to sixth and seventh places.

"Three points is not a bad result at the Japanese Grand Prix, but we thought we would do better today," said Trulli. "I made a good start but I was boxed in going into the first corner and when I tried to go around the outside I lost a place.

"Early on the car felt good and I was easily able to stay with the leading cars. After the pit stop I was able to put in a quick lap on new tyres and I gained a place.

"Unfortunately it turned into a hard race for me after the second stop. Our strategy was pretty good, but I had several problems and struggled with my last set of tyres, especially on the first ten laps.

"We need to analyse what was different to yesterday, but the conditions were a bit cooler today and so that maybe affected our tyre performance.

"My pace improved after that but by then I was in traffic and it was difficult to pull away. So we could have had more but the important thing is that we both scored points for the constructors' championship."

Schumacher also welcomed the points, but like his teammate he admitted he was expecting more from the race.

"I'm glad that we have come away with a total of five points for the team but we could have achieved more today," he said. "We made a strong start and I held third position into the first corner. In fact the car felt good early on and we were able to keep up with the pace of the front-runners until the first stop.

"Jarno managed to get ahead of me on his new tyres and from then on I spent most of the day following him around the track. After the second pit stop he was slower than me.

"I tried to overtake but decided that it was too dangerous and too much of a risk with points at stake. Still, given our difficult weekends at the last two races I think we can be pleased with what we have achieved today."