Trulli: First corner clash ruined race

The Toyota driver lost all his chances of a positive outcome after he made contact with another car, damaging his front wing and having to pit for repairs.

From the back of the field, Trulli was unable to make any progress and finished down in 17th.

"The race was over for me at the first corner," said Trulli. "There were several cars fighting for position but I suddenly saw another car go past me and jump over my front wing because there was no space. I couldn't see that part of my wing but I could feel there was something wrong so I came in and the team changed it.

"After that the car felt good but unfortunately as soon as I caught up with the field I was always stuck in traffic and couldn't do anything.

"When I had a clear track ahead of me later in the race I put in some quick laps and was second fastest overall but it was too late."

Team-mate Timo Glock wound up ninth after recovering from poor qualifying, in which he was sent to the back of the grid for blocking.

The German started from the pitlane and finished just outside of the points.

"In general I am reasonably satisfied with my performance today because I started from the pitlane and finished ninth on a track where overtaking is very difficult," said Glock.

"We had a good strategy after what happened in qualifying yesterday but unfortunately I had some traffic in the first stint which cost me time.

"I only had around four laps without traffic all day but when I had a clear track I was quick. If it wasn't for the traffic I would have had a better chance at scoring points. On the last stint I was quicker than (Heikki) Kovalainen but I just couldn't get past.

"I pushed really hard and tried to overtake twice but I couldn't manage. But we need to qualify higher so we can fight at the front in the race and we will work on this for the next Grand Prix."