Stoner satisfied with hard-fought third

The championship leader admitted that he had taken no chances in the opening laps when the field was on dry tyres in increasingly damp conditions.

"It was very, very hard work," Stoner told BBC television. "At the beginning of the race, it was spitting with rain and I started to lose a few positions, but I wasn't willing to push any harder.

"I was just using everybody as a judge of how hard I could go. Then we knew we had to come in and change to the bike with the wet tyres."

Stoner then found his Ducati difficult to handle as the rain worsened.

"For some reason my rear just wasn't working for the whole race," he said.

"We couldn't get any traction. Maybe the chassis set-up's too stiff, I don't know. It was pretty hairy."

It was only when Stoner finished the race that he realised he had taken a podium.

"I didn't even know what position I was until the last lap of the race," he said.

"I was just going round, trying to do the best I could and stay as smooth as I could and then I crossed the line and saw 'P3' and thought 'that will be alright.'"

With Valentino Rossi struggling with his Michelin wets and falling to sixth, Stoner has extended his championship lead to 21 points.