Toyota Frustrated Despite Points

The Italian driver finished second behind Fernando Alonso in yesterday's qualifying session, in a performance Trulli claimed was a miracle.

"We had high expectations for today's race, so I feel slightly frustrated with this result," said team principal Tsutomu Tomita.

"Still, we managed to bring both cars home in the points and both drivers did well too so we can be happy with that."

Trulli could only hold on to second place at the start of the race, holding off Michael Schumacher's challenge for almost 20 laps before he had to pit.

After that the Italian began to drop down the order and went on to finish in fifth place.

"After the miracle in qualifying yesterday, today was much harder," said Trulli. "I made a strong start and held everyone behind me, but then I couldn't keep up the pace because the car was sliding, especially at the rear end. I was struggling for stability and traction and there was very little I could do.

"I kept fighting all day to keep the other cars behind me, but it was hard work because basically they were quicker than us. After the first pit stop the problem became worse, but we balanced the car better at the second stop and it was slightly better.

"Still, four points is a good result both for me and the team so we can go home satisfied with that."

German Ralf Schumacher also made it into the points after climbing from a disappointing 12th position. He finished in seventh place.

"This was a good result considering where we came from at the beginning of the weekend, going out first in qualifying," he said. "We got through the whole weekend without any incidents or reliability issues, and I'm happy to be going home with two points."