Zanardi speaks out over F1 nightmare

The Italian CART champion only finished three races in his Formula One comeback season and could not match the pace of team-mate Ralf Schumacher.

'At one point, the whole thing broke down and we lost confidence in each other,' he revealed.

'I certainly thought I'd do better than we did and I'm sure they were as pissed off as I was. But I'm not a victim and I'm not going to explain the whole thing because I don't want to sound like a crying baby.'

Mechanical problems cost Zanardi a lot of mileage in the early races, and the unreliability of his car was behind much of the Italian's lack of success.

'It's difficult to believe all the bad luck that happened,' he said. 'Maybe I was too patient in the beginning and I should have got madder and shook my fist more. Maybe they took that as an excess of patience or an attitude, I don't know.

'It would have been nice to have another chance, but in reality maybe I didn't have a real chance in that car.'