Michael Schumacher took a well earned third place podium result in this afternoon's Monaco Grand Prix after a storming finish which saw the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver hound down his rivals. The German, who started from fifth on the grid, battled hard throughout the race to gain two places and had he not been held up by traffic in the earlier stages of the race, he could well have taken maximum points at this notoriously difficult circuit to overtake on.

Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello also lost out to heavy traffic and he finished in eighth place overall. As expected, teams displayed a range of strategies this afternoon, adding extra flavour to one of the most glamorous races on the calendar.

Giancarlo Fisichella, meanwhile, also finished in the top ten for Bridgestone after a consistent drive from the Italian. Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's Jenson Button, however, did not start the race after his team withdrew him. After a heavy crash in Saturday's free practice session, the Briton was discharged from hospital this morning and is suffering from no long term physical effects. He is looking forward to testing next week.

Hisao Suganuma - Technical Manager - Bridgestone Motorsport:

"A third place in Monaco where overtaking is notoriously difficult is not bad at all. I think it's important to note that when given a clear road, Michael was really able to push hard, tracking down the two front runners. In fact, he gained more than half a second a lap in the latter stages of the race, a huge performance boost."

"Thursday's qualifying results also reflect that we had the performance necessary. Looking at the condition of the tyres after the race, they also seemed to have held up well which we're pleased about. We will be looking closely at the results from today to keep pushing our development but I think perhaps we suffered today with a different fuel load strategy from some of our rivals. The Ferrari cars for example were further back on the grid than normal, resulting in a tough first stint, and they then came in much later for their pitstops."

"At Monaco ten kilos of fuel is equivalent to approximately 0.2 seconds a lap. It was also disappointing not to see Bridgestone's other runners get a chance to shine - Jenson Button did not start and Rubens, Giancarlo, Nick and Ralph all had heavy traffic to contend with. But we will keep fighting!"

Ross Brawn - Technical Director - Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:

"Our result today is linked to our qualifying performance yesterday. Michael got held up behind Trulli losing valuable time to the front runners. We believe we had a good strategy and the car worked well. We did all we could."