Trulli baffled by lack of fortune

Trulli made the most of a one-stop strategy to climb up to third place in the closing stages, but it all went wrong five laps from home when his car stopped on the climb out of Ste. Devote corner.

"Once again it's a tale of woe for me," said Trulli, who has failed to score a point so far this season. "It's frustrating because I am giving my best, doing everything I can in qualifying and the race and yet things are just not going right for me.

"Our pace was good today and the tyres were consistent. I could have gone quicker but I spent most of the afternoon in traffic so I never had a clear lap to really push. When I came into the pits with Barrichello I could tell that he had forgotten to hit the pit limiter.

"At the end I was just bringing the car home and everything was under control until the sudden hydraulic problem. It's obviously a pity to miss out on a podium here for the second year in a row.

"But at least we showed better pace at times and we must now build on that. I still believe that the team is doing a good job and working really hard but there is still work to do."

Teammate Ralf Schumacher did at least give Toyota something to smile about as he finished in eighth place, after also adopting a one-stop strategy.

"To come away with a point is something, but it could have been so much more for Toyota today," said the German. "We lost too many places at the start and I spent the first half of the race behind Heidfeld.

"We were quicker but as usual here it was impossible to overtake and our strategy did not allow us to break out of the traffic. That put paid to our chances of getting a better result.

"Still, the car went well and I kept pushing and we ended the race in the final points-scoring position. It was a hard day's work out there but at least we have shown stronger pace this weekend and we must now look to build on that in the coming races."