David Coulthard declared his French Grand Prix result the "worst we could get" after narrowly missing out on points at Magny-Cours.

The Scotsman lost two places at the start to slip to 11th and give himself a mountain to climb to score points for the third successive race.

Retirements ahead lifted the Red Bull driver to ninth by the chequered flag but he was far from satisfied.

"That was pretty much the worst result we could get, having started from ninth on the grid," he said. "We are just the vultures of the paddock at the moment, picking up points when other people fall out.

"We are beginning to gel, as there has been a lot of new people, and I think we are becoming one of the most organised teams in the pit lane.

"But that means nothing if you are not quick enough to score points."

Magny-Cours was unkind to both Britain's drivers, with Coulthard the only one to finish after Jenson Button's retirement.

The Honda driver notched up his fifth race without a point after starting from 18th and struggling to make much headway with an under-performing car.

Button was outside the top ten when his car developed an engine problem, forcing him to coast into the pits and join team-mate Rubens Barrichello in retirement.

Despite scrapping only for minor positions, Button claimed he at least achieved his goal of having fun.

He said: "It was enjoyable and it was fun to gain places throughout the race. "If you take away what position I was racing for I did have fun. I was competing with three or four cars - it's just a pity it wasn't the first four cars. But you still enjoy fighting.

"The car got better during the race which is unusual for us so that's positive. But not to finish is disappointing."

The 26-year-old conceded the best result he was likely to achieve, had his Honda engine held up, was to pip Scuderia Toro Rosso's Scott Speed to tenth.

"I think we could have challenged Speed but that's it," he added. "It hasn't been good, both cars not finishing the race is the first time this year. We wouldn't have scored any points either."

While the fortunes of one Japanese team are on the slide, another's are improving race by race.

Toyota surprised with their qualifying speed yesterday but Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher justified their lofty grid positions with excellent performances today.

Trulli ended the day early in the garage after a brake problem while running fourth, but that lifted Schumacher into the top four and he fired Toyota into the top five in the constructors' championship.

Italian Trulli, who wore a World Cup-themed helmet, claims Toyota can "see light at the end of the tunnel" while team principal Tsutomu Tomita is still dreaming of wins.

He said: "We have to say sorry to Jarno and well done to Ralf who did a very good drive.

"We are going in the right direction and we will push to develop further. Our pace is improving with every race and we are still chasing our first win this season."

Schumacher's brother Michael won the race for Ferrari ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso.