Trulli rues qualifying problems

Trulli needed an engine change that meant he started the race from the back of the grid.

The Italian, however, had a good run on Sunday and climbed up to seventh position.

"As always, the German Grand Prix brings unexpected results and this weekend has not gone how we had hoped for," said Trulli. "It is quite unfortunate that we did not qualify better yesterday.

"But even though I started from the back of the grid, we can be very happy with the performance of the car and the fantastic results.

"I had an incredible start and could do a lot of overtaking which made the race quite exciting for me. Our race pace was very quick and we can be encouraged by the results we ended up with today.

"I owe a great thanks to the team, because the car was very competitive and I think we have huge potential to bounce back at the coming races."

Teammate Ralf Schumacher had started the race from eighth place, but the German endured a difficult event.

He first made contact with David Coulthard at the start and was later hit with a penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Schumacher eventually finished in ninth.

"It is a very disappointing weekend for us because we could have achieved much better results," said Schumacher. "The start of the race was quite difficult and then I had the unlucky collision with David Coulthard in the third corner. The tyres locked up and I could not steer away from him.

"These things are normal racing incidents that can happen. The results are unfortunate for the team who have been working so hard to bring us forward. But I truly believe that had we been able to follow our original strategy, we could have reached a podium position.

"As you can see from Jarno's performance, we have shown that this is definitely possible.  I am looking forward to Hungary to make things better."