Villeneuve 'surprised' to be on podium

The Canadian promised he would go and say an ironic 'thank you' to Mika Hakkinen, whose last lap clutch failure allowed the BAR to move up a place and take third. The result also marked Honda's first podium finish since it returned to Formula 1 with BAR at the start of last season.

"It was a big surprise to be where I am," said Villeneuve. "It must be terrible to be in Mika's position but I must go and say thank you to him."

BAR's first two and a half years in F1 have not been easy. The team was widely mocked after failing to score a single point in its' debut season, but improved to take fifth in the constructors' standings last year.

"It's a great feeling," Villeneuve continued. "Everyone has worked really hard for this for years. Last year was hard and the beginning of the season has been really, really hard too. To finally get a podium was great. It's the boost everyone was needing."

Despite this result, Villeneuve warned that BAR still had plenty of work to do in order to be fully competitive.

"We couldn't have gone any quicker today," he said. "The car was hard to drive but it looks like it was difficult for everybody. It was lucky for us because a few cars dropped out. The team did a great pit stop and got me ahead of Trulli and after that we just hung in there. We weren't in a position to be cautious after the problems we've had in practice because we needed points and a podium."

Villeneuve briefly closed on second-placed Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams in the closing stages before settling for third. He admitted that he could have taken the place earlier had he not been caught napping by Montoya at the start of the race.

"I braked very early for turn one and Juan got me there," he said. "It woke me up and I was awake for the rest of the race! I was just concentrating on the guys ahead too much and took the bend too cautiously."

This result is a timely boost for Villeneuve, who was under pressure after being outpaced by team-mate Olivier Panis in recent races. Panis finished a distant seventh in Spain, delayed by a poor first pit stop.