Fisi: There was nothing I could do.

Giancarlo Fisichella did not look for excuses after being beaten to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, claiming instead that he had had no defence against Kimi Raikkonen's faster McLaren-Mercedes combination.

Fisichella assumed the lead of the race when poleman Ralf Schumacher pitted earlier than expected, and continued to be the favourite for victory into the closing stages. However, when a 17-second advantage became just five seconds after the final round of pit-stops, the doubts began to creep in and, despite a couple of laps of defensive driving, Raikkonen was able to sweep into the lead at the start of the final tour.

"I was struggling a little bit with the rear end in the slow speed corners, and with traction, but the balance in the high speed corners wasn't too bad," Fisichella, who eventually claimed second place, commented, "Kimi was just quicker than us, as usual. In the last few races, after the first part of the season, it has been like that. What can I do?

"It was a tough race this afternoon. I got a good start, but the early safety car period certainly cost me - it kept the field very close together in the early stages, and I wasn't able to pull out the kind of gap over the quick cars at the back of the field that I would have hoped for. Even so, the strategy worked well to get me out in front of Ralf and Jenson and, after that, I just concentrated on doing my race, trying to lap quickly and consistently.

"The team told me Kimi was close after the last stop, but he caught me quite quickly - especially when I got chopped by a backmarker into 130R, which cost me a lot of time. They told me to push a little bit more and I was doing that, I was always pushing, but he was very fast in the final part of the lap. I did my best to hold him off, but he held the line into the first corner and that was that."

Flavio Briatore's reaction as the crucial pass flashed across the television monitors in the Renault pit told a different story, but the Italian insisted that he was more aggrieved by what he believed was a botched call from race officials that cost Fernando Alonso vital seconds early in the race [see separate story]. The Spaniard eventually finished third to push Renault into a two-point constructors' series lead heading to the season finale next weekend.