The efforts of Schumacher and team mate Jarno Trulli were compromised by problems in qualifying, which meant starting the race 15th and 12th on the grid.

Both Toyota drivers found themselves caught up in opening lap chaos that Schumacher had forecast.

“It’s a tight first corner here, with downhill braking on the way in and it’s a recipe for the type of incident we saw today,” Schumacher said. “You do all you can to keep out of trouble but there was a spin among the leading group and after that everyone is darting around trying to take evasive action. My car was hit during all the confusion and I had to pit for a new nose.”

The team took the opportunity to fuel up Schumacher’s car and change him onto a one-stop strategy and a Safety Car later in the race (when Tonio Liuzzi’s spun Toro Rosso was adjudged to be in a dangerous place) helped to bring Ralf back into contention after a difficult early part of the race struggling with lack of grip on a heavy fuel load.

Trulli drove a strong opening stint, passing a number of cars with strong late-braking moves at Turn 12. But Jarno was planning a long first stint and suffered at the hands of the Safety Car.

“I also hit a car in the Turn 1 scramble and lost a couple of places but I was doing my best, driving aggressively, after that. Unfortunately as the race went on I just didn’t seem to have enough grip and I think that was possibly down to a tyre choice that was too conservative.” Jarno was finally classified ninth, one place out of the points.

The race produced the second maiden winner in consecutive races when Felipe Massa took the chequered flag for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Crucially for the championship battle, team mate Michael Schumacher was stacked behind Massa when both Ferraris pitted under the Safety Car, meaning that Schumacher lost second place to championship leader Fernando Alonso, who leaves Istanbul 12 points ahead at the top of the championship table. Jenson Button finished fourth for Lucky Strike Honda, ahead of Pedro de la Rosa’s McLaren Mercedes and Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault. Behind Ralf, Rubens Barrichello’s Honda claimed the final point.

Panasonic Toyota Racing’s Senior General Manager Chassis, Pascal Vasselon, said: “Considering all the problems at the first corner the team did a good job to come away with points. As well as the obvious damage to the nose, quite a few aerodynamic parts on Ralf’s car were damaged and he never gave up. From Jarno’s point of view it looks as if we chose too hard a tyre and he was struggling for grip as the race wore on.”

The team now heads to next week’s Monza test where it will concentrate on the low downforce set-up that will be required in the Italian GP on September 10.