Trulli gave the team provisional pole position on Saturday but after the race-fuel qualifying session on Sunday morning, lined up for the race in fifth place, one slot behind his team mate.

Schumacher ran third after the start, passing Mark Webber’s BMW Williams, but Trulli passed him at the pit stops when he ran longer in the first stint of the race. The two TF105s were unable to match the race pace of winner Kimi Raikkonen’s West McLaren Mercedes or Fernando Alonso’s Renault, the Spaniard finishing second in front of his home crowd, but Trulli climbed onto the podium for the third time in five races.

“I have to say that it was one of the best races of my career because the car was not perfect and I fought hard from start to finish,” the Italian said. “I was quicker with more fuel than Ralf, probably due to car set-up, but he was very quick with light fuel and perhaps should have had the third place as well as me. Right from beginning to end I had to push hard. I had a problem with the fuel rig at my first stop but in the end everything worked out well.”

Schumacher added: “It’s always a bit frustrating to lose places at the pit stops but fourth place was another good result. Once again the car was good, the tyres were good and we took the chequered flag in point-scoring positions for the fourth consecutive race.”

Behind Ralf, Giancarlo Fisichella finished fifth for Renault after having to make an unscheduled pit stop, while Webber was sixth for BMW Williams. The final points were claimed by Juan Pablo Montoya’s McLaren Mercedes and David Coulthard’s Red Bull Racing entry.

Panasonic Toyota Racing team principal Tsutomu Tomita said: “It was another excellent result for the team with both drivers very evenly matched and scoring strong points. Once again our reliability was excellent, which is a credit to everyone, but the pace shown by some of our rivals proved once again how tough Formula 1 is. We have obviously still got work to do and we will be concentrating on improving our competitiveness even more.”

After the fast sweeps of the Circuit de Catalunya, attention now turns to a totally different type of circuit and the classic round-the-houses race in Monte Carlo on May 22. Monaco was the scene of Trulli’s maiden Grand Prix victory last year.