With Tonio Liuzzi claiming ninth position and Adrian Sutil tenth. But it was a case of what might have been as Tonio was pushed wide at the first corner after the start and forced to pit for a new front wing, while Adrian picked up a puncture while fighting with Robert Kubica on lap 27. Both incidents relegated them to the rear of the field, however the pair refused to give up and fought to the end to give Force India a further three constructors’ points.

Adrian had a good start from ninth on the grid and made an early pit stop to change to the medium tyre compound on lap six when his soft tyres grained excessively. He recovered to enjoy a tight battle with Kubica for sixth but the pair touched wheels, with Adrian picking up a rear right puncture that necessitated a further pit stop. He dropped back to 13th however was able to reclaim tenth after hard battles with Hulkenberg, Massa, and ultimately his team-mate Tonio. He finally moved into the points when he overtook Michael Schumacher on the final lap.

Tonio was desperately unfortunate not to be able to convert his fifth place starting position after he was squeezed onto the grass in the first corner. He fell to last after the stop for a new front wing, but was able to make in-roads into the field with a series of qualifying-style laps while the rest of the field pitted. By a third distance he was 13th and involved in the tight battle with Alguersuari, Massa, Adrian and Hulkenberg. Sensing points were still possible Tonio then closed to seconds from tenth, which he claimed when Massa pitted. He then put in some banzai laps to close on a slowing Schumacher and secured ninth position on the final lap.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Like Tonio, it was a pretty hard race. At the start I was racing Kubica and it seemed we could have got into the top five again, but then we touched and I got a puncture. Unfortunately it was at the first corner so I had to drive the whole lap back to the pits. I lost a lot of time like this and dropped out of the top ten, and then had to fight my way past Hulkenberg and then Schumacher to get back in the points. At the end of the race we knew Michael had some problems with his tyres so I really pushed to close the gap and I just got past him on the last corner to get the final point. Of course I’m disappointed as I think we could have got some serious points here today but I think I drove well, the car was good and we were fast the whole race.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It was a tough race and I drove every lap pushing so hard. The team deserved to get a good result after the hard work they have done this weekend and in the past weeks on the developments. We should ultimately have had more points than we got in the end, but it’s always OK to get another few points on board, particularly after the last race when they seemed so far away. Unfortunately we lost a big part of the race as the door was closed on me in the first corner by Felipe [Massa]. It was a race accident as Jenson was on the other side and there wasn’t anything I could do – I was on the inside and holding my line. We lost the front wing and had to change the strategy then and there, but in the end we still got some points. The team is pushing like hell and we want to confirm the progress we’ve made with more results. Today showed we’re strongly in the top 10 and – more importantly – we will never give up.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Another double points finish for the team is a very positive result, but given our outstanding qualifying performance yesterday I think in my heart of hearts I would have hoped for more. Both drivers got caught in unfortunate accidents and dropped back but they drove excellently to salvage three points, which, given the circumstances of the race, is very good. We also picked up significant damage on both cars in the incidents and to still show that level of performance is very encouraging. What we have learnt this weekend is that we’ve got a very strong car that’s capable of fighting with the top four teams entirely on merit and we have two top line drivers who are functioning at their best. We’re really looking forward to Valencia now.

Source: Force India

Hamilton was part of the FIA drivers Thursday press conference, marking the start of official activities at the Shanghai International Circuit ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Here are highlights of Lewis Hamilton’s answers to questions posed to him during the media session.

You have been out and about in Shanghai. You were at the Expo?
Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, this morning before we went to the track we stopped by the Expo and I got to see a little bit of it and I just have a small tour around the UK’s Expo. It was quite a cool and special building they have created there. But it was just a quick stop and I did a bit of a press conference and that was it.

We are three races in to the so-called rivalry between you and Jenson Button. How is it going?
Lewis: We are doing well. We are scoring lots of points for the team. He is a doing a fantastic job and we are getting on really well. He brings nothing but positiveness to the team and I think he is a very well balanced and well-rounded guy. We get on really well and it is working well for us.

How much of a worry is Red Bull’s pace and your team having to abandon your McLaren ride height system to counter development?
Lewis: We have not had to abandon much. There are so many different things in the pipeline and one of those was to go in a similar direction as perhaps some other teams have done. But it is clear everyone cannot do that now. I don’t know how that affects others but it doesn’t really affect us. We still have updates that we are working on and should be coming in the course of the next few weeks or months. I am looking forward to seeing the updates come but I know the guys back at the factory are flat out. We try to make as many improvements as we can. Last weekend we seemed to be very competitive with them through practice but in the race the Red Bulls pace was a little bit… I don’t know if they were pushing that much, but we have just got to keep our eye on the ball and keep pushing.

Do you think that the F-duct is going to give you the big advantage that many of your rivals suspect or do you see Red Bull as the main team to beat you?
Lewis: I still see Red Bull and Ferrari as the teams to beat here. You don’t know what Mercedes have brought either, so I think it’s the same as every race.

It’s quite tight at the top of the drivers’ standings after three races. Are you expecting it to remain such a tight battle between maybe six or eight drivers as we continue, or do you expect, when we get to Europe, when the development race kicks in in earnest, that we will see people leaping ahead? Sebastian (Vettel) could have won all three races so far.
Lewis: Yeah, you’re right, Sebastian could be quite a bit ahead at the moment, but I think at the moment it is very close, and I’m hoping that it stays like that for some time but undoubtedly, at some stage during the season, whether or not Red Bull continue to have not such great reliability, as Michael was saying, anything can happen and it can happen to any of us. We just have to try and stay as consistent as possible. You cannot afford too many DNFs, so I think that is probably what every team is trying to maintain, try and stay as consistent as possible.

You obviously had a great win in 2008, but in 2007 you remember what happened then, when you came off the track. Do you think that you’ve matured as a driver, that that sort of situation wouldn’t happen today? That you would insist that you should pit rather than stay out on bald tyres?
Lewis: Well, I know where the gravel trap is now, so I don’t think I would be in that position again. Of course, having the experience and being a few years down the line, I think I’m able to understand and make calls for myself, but I don’t think that we as a team would put ourselves in that position again. I’m confident that we won’t be there again.