Schumacher started the race from 10th on the grid and battled hard throughout the entire 71 laps. He ran 9th at the start and then passed Christian Klien’s Red Bull Racing car to work his way into a points position after his second pit stop on lap 57.

Schumacher’s race was made more difficult due to the understeer he suffered in qualifying, which qualified him further down than he had hoped.

“It was still very difficult in the early laps,” he explained. “The understeer was still there and we compensated by putting on a bit more front wing at my first pit stop. It is also quite tough to pass at Interlagos, on such a short lap with a tight infield, and the rate of attrition among the leaders was very low. I knew that I would be making my second stop later than Klien, and so I just concentrated on staying close to him to take full advantage. I lost a bit of time when I had to let Raikkonen past, but I still managed to get into the points.”

Team mate Jarno Trulli’s task was made almost impossible by an engine change on Saturday which meant he started the 17th round of the championship from 18th on the grid. He then lost even more time avoiding a first lap collision between the BMW Williams cars and David Coulthard.

“I was very heavy with fuel as that was the most effective strategy given my grid penalty,” Trulli explained. “The problem is that it is even more difficult to overtake in such circumstances and I was always in traffic. When I got a clear lap I could run competitively but I had precious few throughout the race. Then on the last lap I had a pneumatic problem and had to retire. All I hope is that we have a luckier weekend on Toyota’s home ground at Suzuka in a fortnight. I also want to congratulate my former team mate Fernando Alonso on his achievement in winning the world championship.”

Chief race engineer Dieter Gass said: “I think it has been a trying weekend for the whole team, with some operational issues to look into, but these things happen sometimes in motor racing. We scored a point but unfortunately both Ferraris finished in the points too, which will make it extremely hard for us to overhaul them in the constructors’ championship in the Far Eastern races that conclude the season.”

McLaren Mercedes has overhauled Mild Seven Renault by just two points at the top of the constructors’ championship table, with Scuderia Ferrari third on 98 points and Panasonic Toyota Racing in fourth place with 81.