Trulli held sixth place in the early laps, regaining the position after his first pit stop on lap 25. The second and final stop on lap 47 was carried out with the same slick efficiency by the team, Jarno moving up to fifth when Juan Pablo Montoya dropped out of third position with engine trouble on lap 53.

'The start was good for me but the problem is, we don't have the speed,' said Trulli. 'We still have work to do with the engine because I was passed by Montoya (Williams) and Barrichello (Ferrari) on pure speed. I couldn't do anything. My set-up was perfect and I tried to keep close to them but they were able to open a gap. I have been running in the points at some stage since the first race of the season but then I've had some mechanical failures. But you do need to be determined and I always push every single race. I knew that today was going to be a good chance to score points and I kept pushing hard. The car felt perfect from the beginning and the lap times were good but it is difficult to keep close to the three top teams. I think, to be honest, that fifth is the best we could achieve under the circumstances at the moment and I'm very happy with that.'

Frentzen ran in seventh place, not far behind Trulli, until the first pit stop. A problem with the refuelling equipment cost Heinz-Harald time and position. His second stop on lap 46 was uneventful but it proved too difficult to make up lost ground.

'It wasn't so bad during my first stint but I don't know what happened during my first pit stop,' said Frentzen. 'It took about twice as long as it should have done and one of the Saubers passed me as a result. I had a good fight with Eddie Irvine but, when he got alongside me coming into the final chicane, there was no way we were both going to get round the corner side-by-side. So, I cut across the chicane and stayed in front, but I knew I had to let him through otherwise I was going to get a 10-second penalty for missing the chicane. After that, I just pushed as hard as I could. The car had been good to start with but on the second and third stints I was fighting with pretty bad understeer. It's always good to finish but obviously I want to score points at the very least.'

The two points for fifth place eased Jordan clear of BAR Honda and brought them to within one point of the fourth-placed Sauber team in the Constructors' Championship.

'I think overall we needed to bring cars home today,' said Tim Holloway, Head of Engineering. 'That was the most important thing after a barren spell with silly little problems. We achieved that, which is satisfying. Jarno did a very good job but Heinz was delayed by a problem with the refuelling nozzle actually going on; we couldn't get it attached straightaway during his first stop. I noticed other teams had a similar problem; maybe it had something to do with the heat. We'll have to investigate. It cost Heinz a couple of places and it is very difficult to recover from that. Still, we brought two cars home and we can build on that.'

'It's important to get two finishes, particularly going to Silverstone,' said Eddie Jordan. 'We wouldn't want to be going into our home race with yet another DNF (did not finish). It was vital to get two cars to finish today and finishing fifth at the moment is about as good as we can make it. We'll take all the points we can get!'

Ralf Schumacher led for 23 laps but a problem with the right-rear wheel during the pit stop cost time and dropped the Williams driver to second, where he finished. Michael Schumacher took charge in his Ferrari and went on to score his 50th Grand Prix victory.

Schumacher now leads the championship by 31 points from David Coulthard, who finished fourth after being forced to take a 10-second stop-go penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit during his first pit stop. Fifteen of the 21 starters finished the 72-lap race, Mika Hakkinen having failed to take the start when the gearbox on his McLaren seized at the beginning of the final parade lap.

The eleventh round of the FIA Formula One World Championship will be the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 15 July.

Jordan Grand Prix