EUROPEAN Minardi Cosworth had good reason to finish pleased with the outcome of the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest.

Their drivers Jos Verstappen and Nicolas Kiesa took the chequered flag in 12th and 13th places respectively at the end of a hard-fought race.

And Fernando Alonso, formerly with the Ledbury team, scored his first ever grand prix victory when driving for Renault.

Minardi team principle Paul Stoddart said: "First of all our congratulations to Fernando and the Renault team for what can only be described as a fantastic weekend - pole position, followed by a faultless race performance.

"Throughout his time at Minardi not one person in the team doubted that this would happen."

He added: "For our own race, it's always pleasing to see a two-car finish, particularly in a grand prix where reliability was such an issue.

"Both Jos and Nicolas drove faultlessly."