But he could well have claimed a top-three position and lost out to Sauber's Nick Heidfeld for the podium spot.

The Frenchman said: "I am very happy to have finished in the points today as I pushed very hard.

"I was on a two-stop strategy for this race and it was working to plan. I managed to overtake a number of cars quite quickly.

"We had a problem with the radio, which resulted in a delay for me during my pit stop.

"After that I pushed very very hard to come back and fight with the other cars that were ahead of me.

He added: "The final result is very encouraging."

Team-mate Jacques Villeneuve came home just out of the points in seventh place and admitted he had had a tough race in Sao Paulo.

The Canadian racer said: "It has been a hard day. The team got some points but Olivier should have been on the podium today.

"We had some problems in the pits, which meant that both cars lost a lot of time.

"The reality is that we should have both been in the points. It is disappointing because both cars were really strong.

"I had some problems at the beginning of the race so I had to pit early and then the differential broke so I had to continue to race with a very loose car," he added.