Jordan Grand Prix would have moved back to third in the championship but for a start-to-finish victory for Ralf Schumacher and Williams.

'I made a good start,' said Trulli. 'I moved into third place and, for the first ten laps, I was probably holding up Hakkinen (McLaren) and Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) but then I was pulling away. Everything was fine until the first pit stop, when I was in big, big trouble with the second set of tyres. I was struggling a lot with the handling and when Montoya (Williams) came up behind me, he was able to brake later than me and accelerate away, so there was nothing I could do. I really tried hard but it was difficult to keep him behind me. I lost two places and continued struggling until the second pit stop. The third set of tyres were okay and I was able to keep pace. For me, two points isn't bad; it's a good result after the disappointment of Brazil. I was able to show once more that when I have a good car and everything is working well, I can be right there.'

A poor start for Frentzen dropped him to 11th place at the end of the first lap, Heinz-Harald never really recovering from the early setback on a track where overtaking is difficult.

'I had to take evasive action at the start,' said Frentzen, 'but once the race settled down I pushed ahead with our race strategy. The balance of the car was good and everything was running at its optimum but there was no way I could catch up from that far back. Certainly, there was no way I could have lived with the Williams had I been at the front! Williams and Ralf Schumacher deserved their win today. Scoring a point for sixth place was some consolation but, to be honest, we need to step up our performance a bit more.'

Jordan Grand Prix remains one of just three teams to have scored points in all four races held so far.

'That's good,' said Eddie Jordan. 'It shows we have the reliability and it's always nice to have two cars finish in the top six; that was one of our goals this season. That's where our emphasis has been and at least we now have something to build on. But the fact of the matter is that we need more performance; we need to keep upping our game. Our partners, Honda, are doing the same and hopefully we can join what has become an interesting three-way fight at the head of the field.'

Schumacher led from the start, having forced his way past David Coulthard's pole position McLaren on the run to the first corner. Schumacher was never headed, these two pulling away from the rest of the field, led, in the early stages by Trulli's Jordan-Honda.

Schumacher scored his first Grand Prix win and the first for Williams since September 1997. Coulthard's second place means he holds joint leadership of the drivers' championship after Michael Schumacher, who ran no higher than fifth, retired after 24 laps with a wheel-rim problem. Rubens Barrichello brought Ferrari some consolation by finishing third.

The fifth round of the 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship will be the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona on 29 April.

Jordan Grand Prix