"I made a brilliant start, and made my race by the first corner. The car was really good and our strategy worked well for us. My only problem was that I had a big vibration on my second set of tyres and that made it easy to make mistakes," he remarked in a press release.

"I made a couple but I recovered each time without losing any places. Nick pushed me hard but I felt quite comfortable. After Brazil's success in the World Cup on Friday, this point is another great bonus this weekend for me!"

His team mate Nick Heidfeld acknowledge that he lost the opportunity for points at the start, although he harried his colleague all the way to the chequered flag.

"I lost my point at the start, when Felipe overtook me. It was as simple as that. My car was good this afternoon, and the two of us were very close after our pit stops," the German commented.

"My one chance to pass him came in the first corner as he left the pits after his stop, but Ralf Schumacher was right in front of me so I had to brake to avoid him, and that was that.

"After that we got close a few times, and though naturally I was aware that I was fighting my team-mate, with all that that implies, I tried as hard as possible. Like I said, it was close, but just not close enough."

Team principal Peter Sauber added: "This was a very important point for us, as it is our first at the Nurburgring. Furthermore, it's one that we took from Renault.

"It was really hard to earn because normally a two-stop strategy is quicker, but the only way we could fight Renault this afternoon was to do a one-stop race and it worked well.

"Both Felipe and Nick drove strong races, and were free to race each other throughout. Thanks to them, and to the team, for a good race."