After the race, Schumacher was docked 25 seconds by the race stewards who considered that he exited his second pitstop in an unsafe manner. That decision would mean Ralf loses his point for eighth place, but the Toyota team has lodged an appeal.

Nonetheless, the result does not match the heady heights of Malaysia and Bahrain, where Trulli finished second, but at a circuit that the Toyota team admits has historically been a difficult one, more points rather than podiums was the target. It means that the team retains its second place in the constructors’ championship behind the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team and Jarno is still second in the drivers championship behind Fernando Alonso.

“That was a tough race,” Trulli admitted. “I made a good start and made up a place by passing Mark Webber, but the car did not have the pace to follow the race leaders here. I made a set-up change just before the second qualifying session and ended up having a bit too much oversteer towards the end of the race. I also lost out when a couple of cars behind me ran slightly longer first stints. Villeneuve passed me at the second stops as well, but overall I think I achieved everything I could.”

Team mate Schumacher, meanwhile, was delayed in a long queue of cars in the first stint, having completed the first lap in 12th place.

“This is a tough place to overtake and so if you start in the middle of the grid you have a difficult afternoon,” he explained. “But the team did a great job and it was good to score points for the third race in a row. I finished right with Jarno, just half a second behind.”

The race produced a third straight win for Renault’s Alonso but the 23-year-old Spaniard had to fight hard to hold off world champion Michael Schumacher, who harassed him for the final 10 laps and took second place and eight points for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Jenson Button finished on the podium for Lucky Strike BAR Honda, with Alexander Wurz in fourth place for West McLaren Mercedes. Takuma Sato finished fifth in the second BAR, ahead of Jacques Villeneuve, who scored his first points for Sauber Petronas.

Technical Director, Chassis, Mike Gascoyne summed up Imola: “We were not expecting miracles here and we had to work for our points, but we got them. Jarno was struggling a bit later in the race but did not make any mistakes and Ralf had a similarly strong race. Luca Marmorini and the engine department again did an excellent job and allowed us to continue to demonstrate truly impressive reliability. Imola, despite its chicanes, is still demanding for engines, especially following hot on the heels of the race in Bahrain.”

Panasonic Toyota Racing now embarks on a three-day test at Jerez in Spain ahead of the Spanish round of the championship at Barcelona on May 8.