Force India made sure of sixth place in the Contructors Championship as Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta secured strong points finishes in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
The final round of the 2011 Formula One season saw Sutil sixth for the Silverstone-based team, while di Resta ended his rookie season with an eighth place finish.
Sutil’s result was also enough to ensure he finished the year in the top ten of the driver’s standings after he was able to hold off Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.
“I’m really happy about the result today,” said the German racer. “It completes a great weekend where everything went to plan.
“I had a good feeling in all the sessions and the team did a brilliant job to give me such a good car today.
“We also made the right calls with the strategy because we knew there was a chance to beat Mercedes, and that’s exactly what we did.
“So I’m very happy with my sixth place – it’s the best way to end the year and it also means that I move up to ninth place in the drivers’ championship, which was my aim.”
Di Resta ends his first season in F1 13th in the standings after finishing in the points in eight of the Grand Prix’s.
However, Sunday’s race was not plain sailing for the British driver. He said: “My eighth place today is a great result after quite a tough race for me.
“There was a concern with the gearbox around half way through the race so the team told me to just try and bring the car home.
“In the final stint it was just a case of managing the gap to [Kamui] Kobayashi behind me and we had enough to do that quite easily in the end.
“So that’s the end of my first season of Formula 1 and it’s been a great year, especially now we have finished sixth in the championship.
“It’s well deserved for the entire team and I want to thank everyone for their help and support during this amazing year.”
Meanwhile, team owner Dr Vijay Mallya has still yet to make an announcement on the Force India driver line-up for the 2012 season.
The Indian billionaire had promised to inform his drivers before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last month, but no news was forthcoming.
It has been speculated that di Resta will be partnered by the team’s test/reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg next year, with Sutil leaving.
