It turned out to be a short-lived British Grand Prix for Mark Webber, as a suspected clutch problem forced him to retire his car on lap 10 of the 60-lap event.

The Australian had been running strongly to that point, having moved up to 17th place, ahead of Massa's Sauber, de la Rosa's Jaguar and Fisichella's Jordan, and was closing on the second Jordan of Takuma Sato.

The team's strategy called for Webber to make two stops for fuel and tyres during the race, although the highly changeable weather prevailing at Silverstone on Sunday might have required a change of plan.

"We really don't know what happened yet," he commented in a press release. "I hit the brakes at the end of Hangar Straight and the car just snapped into a high-speed spin.

"We had been going really well to that point and I was able to run at a consistent, competitive pace. It's disappointing, because with the problems caused by the weather today, there might well have been the opportunity for a good finish."

Team principal Paul Stoddart added: "Sadly, today was not as productive as we hoped it might be. Given the changing conditions, it was a perfect race for Minardi to have scored a point; however, it was not to be, as Mark suffered a clutch problem that left him stranded in the gravel on lap 10.

"It's a shame because, up to now, his reliability record was second only to one - we'll just have to put this weekend behind us. Our congratulations go to the Lucky Strike BAR team for an excellent effort today that resulted in them gaining some very valuable points."