Villeneuve Sorry after Pitstop Blunder

The Sauber driver admitted he "screwed up" after he tried to start moving before refueller Silvan Ruegg had finished doing his job.

Villeneuve hit Ruegg on a foot and lost time due to the incident.

The Canadian then struggled to make an impression during the race and finished down in 14th place.

"Unfortunately I screwed up my first pitstop," admitted the Canadian. "I was looking at the lollipop, but then I got distracted by what was happening in the Red Bull pit and when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye I mistakenly thought it was my lollipop signal to go and moved too soon.

"My apologies to our refueller Silvan Ruegg, whose foot I hit. Fortunately he is okay.

"That incident cost me some time and because of that I got stuck in some traffic and had a pretty cut and thrust race all the way to the finish with Heidfeld and the Red Bull cars. My car was hard to drive today, so it was a tough race."

Brazilian Felipe Massa completed a disappointing day for Sauber by finishing in 10th position after having started from 16th place.

Massa claimed with a higher grid position he would have finished in the points.

"At the start I had a problem with the clutch and was slow away," said Massa. "I made up the places I'd lost to the Jordans, but then I got stuck in traffic and lost a lot of time. Despite that my strategy was the right one, and when I was alone on the track the car was very good and very consistent.

"If I'd been able to start higher I could have taken points for sure. It was a shame that I couldn't score, but I was very happy with my race."