He was classified ninth but earned a point when Robert Kubica was disqualified, bringing him within 10 of Fernando Alonso, who had crashed earlier.

Schumacher still felt a chance had been missed, saying: “Of course I am very disappointed. We had a great opportunity but we did not take it.

“There are still five races to go. Nothing is lost yet and I will give it my all in trying to win the title.”

Alonso was relieved to escape with his standings lead still largely intact after a failure on his Renault pitched him into the barriers.

“Even though I am disappointed, everything is relative,” the world champion said.

“Even better, the car was really competitive this weekend. We are starting the important part of the championship now and I am confident we are in a very good position after this race.”

In the absence of the two title rivals, and pole-position man Kimi Raikkonen, the podium had an odd look to it at the end of a chaotic race.

Raikkonen’s shunt with Vitantonio Liuzzi was one of many on a track that was sodden after morning rain.

The Finn’s McLaren team-mate Pedro de la Rosa was among the first to be caught out when he spun on the way to the grid but he kept his head in the race to take second place.

This is his best Formula One result but it came after a battle with Schumacher, which he claimed over-stepped the boundaries of fair play.

Schumacher robustly defended second, with the cars touching at one stage, before cutting a chicane in a desperate bid to hold position and then refusing to give way.

De la Rosa said: “That nearly caused me a crash. He was defending too much for his pace…I thought he was giving position away like he should and he suddenly accelerated. We brushed wheels. I didn’t understand.”

The Spaniard’s pace rescued a positive result for McLaren after Raikkonen’s accident, which came when Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Liuzzi slowed suddenly.

Raikkonen said: “I could do nothing to avoid the collision. He really slowed on the racing line and there was nowhere for me to go except into the back of him.”

With Raikkonen watching from the sidelines, his former Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld delivered the first podium for the team since they were bought by BMW last year.

After finishing third, he said: “This is a fantastic day, not only for me but for the entire team, especially as we had a rather low point in the last two races.”