EUROPEAN GP RESULT 1 F Alonso (Renault) 2 N Heidfeld (Williams) 3 R Barrichello (Ferrari) 4 D Coulthard (Red Bull) 5 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 6 G Fisichella (Renault) 7 JP Montoya (McLaren) 8 J Trulli (Toyota) Full race report More Nurburgring photos

The Brazilian climbed up from seventh on the grid while team-mate Michael Schumacher finished fifth after ending the first lap in 14th place.

"We have had a difficult time so far this season," Barrichello said.

"But we are coming back and I feel Ferrari will be very strong from now to the end of the year and we are going to be winning races hopefully soon."

But Schumacher was less positive after the race.

"The fact is that we were not fast enough today," said Schumacher.

Things are moving forward but we still have to do our homework Michael Schumacher

"We're usually faster in the race than in the qualifying, but today that wasn't even the case.

"The situation usually is that in the races we're faster than the others. This time we were slower in the qualifying and in the race, not faster."

But he said he still had hopes that he could haul himself back into the world title battle.

"That's the good thing about sport - there's always hope," he said. "Hope is the last thing to die.

"Rubens had a wonderful race. His third place is a step in the right direction.

"Things are not looking so bad for us. Getting to the podium is a big boost. It shows that things are moving forward. But we still have to do our homework."

Schumacher had another difficult afternoon

Barrichello and Schumacher were both delayed by a first-corner melee caused by a collision between Mark Webber and Juan Pablo Montoya.

But neither showed the sort of race pace necessary to challenge at the front.

Ferrari have also continued to struggle in qualifying, where they cannot make their tyres work efficiently over a single lap.

But Barrichello said: "The boys here and at the factory are doing a fantastic job to make up the time, really.

"It is very unfortunate that we have been out of the podium for a long time. The car is very reliable, the engine is good and the tyres are fantastic."