But there was little that Ralf could do to challenge the Ferrari's in first and second so it really became a case of simply getting himself and his car to the finish.

Ralf would comment on the race by saying: "It was kind of boring. But to be honest, we didn't expect to be third here this weekend. That was our target but we had such a bad weekend except for qualifying and the race today, so we are totally happy. We were the only car out there being able to stay in reasonable distance at least and the team did simply a great job, the pit stops were brilliant and I am very happy."

Ralf added: "My tyres came in and I was pushing the whole race. The problem here, especially again with lapping people, is that you are being held up for quite a bit of time even if the gap still looks quite big, I don't know why it is here. So that sometimes makes the times a bit slow, but in general I was pretty happy today."

As for the performance of his Michelin tyres, which came in for some criticism as been too conservative for the circuit, Ralf felt that his Bridgestone rivals hold an advantage while his tyres come into their best.

Ralf said: "Well, for us it seems that the tyre throughout the race gets better and better and that's basically the case. They usually start on new tyres which is an advantage for the first five, six, seven laps maybe compared to us but then we start to stabilise. But by that time, usually, it's a bit late, as we saw again today. But whatever, even if that had stabilised there was no chance. As in previous races, they are still too strong for us."

As for his start Ralf knew that once his brother Michael braked late going into Turn One that there was no hope of getting past.

Ralf added: "Only nearly, didn't I? No, there was never a chance. He was on the inside and he decided to brake late and I knew that there was no chance. The problem is, especially in turn one, that as soon as you come off the line, there is so much dirt and stuff that usually you lose the back end and lose even more positions, so I decided to back off and stay inside and to take the third, safe option."