The 33-year-old Austrian made the most of a clever one-stop fuel strategy to give the Williams team their first podium since Nick Heidfeld's second place at the 2005, leaning off on his fuel while the field were under caution periods to pick his way through the melee that occurred throughout the race.

"It is still a dream," said Wurz, who last stood on the podium ten years ago (as his third place in the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix was later awarded to him after Jenson Button's disqualificiation).

"We had a difficult weekend and never found the rhythm, but I showed I am a good racer, I had the pace, the option tyres were very difficult. I made no mistakes and I'm pleased to bring this one home."

Wurz, who started down in 19th, freely accepted that he had been lucky with the way that four safety car periods had been called for.

But he still drove remarkably to complete the final 30 laps on the softer of the two Bridgestone tyre compounds which were widely understood to be less than preferable in race conditions.

"I really scraped the tyres as much as we could to get rid of graining, it was important because I had Heikki Kovalainen behind me but I had cleared the tyre and it was okay," added Wurz, who beat the Finn to the position.

Jamie O'Leary