A pivotal two points for Nico Rosberg have launched him up into the top ten in the driver standings after another typically feisty drive from the German in the Turkish Grand Prix.

Finishing a place higher than he started, Rosberg may have been unable to maintain the pace of Heikki Kovalainen, whom he battled with in the early stages, to the end of the race but he did enough to vault past Robert Kubica during the pit stops.

Never out of the points positions all weekend, Rosberg fought a twitchy car over the latter stages as he attempted to keep Kubica behind, but eventually he would cross the line seventh for his second consecutive points finish.

Moving him up from 13th to 10th in the driver standings too, the result also helps Williams forge away slightly from Red Bull in the constructor standings.

“Before this weekend started, I didn't expect that we would finish the race in 7th, so I am very pleased - it was a great race. I am also very happy to have beaten Kubica in the BMW - I didn't expect him to pit before us and we beat him fair and square.

“Towards the end of the race it became more difficult, but the car handled pretty well and the tyre graining was there for a shorter time than I anticipated, so I could continue to push hard. It was great to win two points for both Championships and now I am looking forward to Monza, hoping that we can add to our points tally.”

Alex Wurz meanwhile failed to recover from his poor starting position and although he was up to 11th by the end of the first lap, his two-stop strategy around number of one-stoppers meant he could not progress any higher than that position to the finish line.

“My start was good and I felt comfortable on my first set of tyres which allowed me to attack. After the first stop, however, it was really close because a lot of people who were on a one-stop strategy went past me and that obviously cost me a bit of time.

“Ninth may have been possible and so I was pushing from first to last lap, heat is never an issue for me, even if mentally it was a bit tough today. But my nature is always to push!”