Trulli thrilled with hard-fought second

Jarno Trulli said his 'fantastic' return to the podium at Suzuka was all the more enjoyable because it came after such a hard-fought battle with Lewis Hamilton.

The duo pushed each other to qualifying-style on the limit laps in the middle of the race as Hamilton strived to pull far enough away from Trulli to negate the Toyota's strategy advantage, and Trulli drove equally hard to keep the McLaren in sight.

In the end it worked out in the Italian's favour, as Trulli stayed sufficiently close to Hamilton to grab second when he ran two laps further before his final stop.

"This was a fantastic race for me, I really enjoyed doing almost qualifying laps with Lewis - lap by lap closing the gap," said Trulli.

"It was not easy at all, after the first pit stop I was chasing him closely again, and I was really enjoying it because the car was very strong and it was just a matter of pushing hard as possible and putting pressure on Lewis.


"Eventually thanks to the team and strategy, we got him at the pit stop, and from then on it was easy for me, apart from the safety car."

The result was better than Trulli had expected, as he feared Hamilton would use his KERS boost to disappear into the distance off the line.

"I knew that the start would be the hot spot of the race and the most difficult, because this guy is very strong," said Trulli of Hamilton.

"Generally we don't get very good starts, and as well Lewis has the KERS, so it was pretty easy to imagine what would happen at the first corner.

"This time the car pulled away pretty well, so I was nearly able to keep the position, but obviously Lewis came by and I was obliged to follow him."

Trulli admitted he had similar worries when the safety car came out in the closing stages.

"Again I thought it was going to be a difficult restart and it would be close with the KERS car, but thankfully I pulled away again, so I'm really happy," he said.

But while delighted with second on Toyota's home turf, Trulli confessed to slight disappointment at being unable to live with the dominant Sebastian Vettel.

"I really wanted to win,but it was impossible today becuase Vettel was untouchable," he said.