Webber disappointed after early exit

Webber, who had failed to make the cut in the first qualifying session on Saturday, retired before the end of the first lap when he was hit by the car of Ralf Schumacher.

The Toyota has been nudged by Toro Rosso's American rookie Scott Speed.

Ralf then hit Webber's Williams broadside, shunting both out of the race. Stewards were investigating the incident, which brought out the safety car for two laps.

"It looked like Scott Speed clipped Ralf on the right rear going into Becketts which caused the Toyota to spin and end up in my path," said Webber. "Ralf was obviously trying to save his car, which is fair enough, but he came directly back across the track when I was on the inside trying to get a clean run out, so I had nowhere to go.

"We've had a tough weekend so it's a shame we couldn't get something out of it. We have a lot of work to do now and we have to keep pressing on and get ready for Montreal."

Nico Rosberg completed a poor weekend for the Williams team, after coming home in ninth place.

"It's pretty disappointing pushing the whole race and coming away with nothing," said Rosberg. "I gained several places on the start, moving from twelfth to ninth, but later on in the race I was surprised not to get ahead of Villeneuve. He came out of the pits in front of me after his second pit stop despite me really pushing on my out lap.

"Anyway, I think from my point of view this was a useful race for me,adding to my experience of Formula One and each weekend gets easier for me. That said, it's difficult to accept not achieving something because when I had a good race in my earlier career it meant I had either won or was on the podium.

"Looking ahead, I am confident it's going to be better for us in Montreal and Indy which are different tracks to here and hopefully better suited to us."