Point eludes but strong double finish for Force India

Valencia: The maiden Formula One points remained out of bounds but Force India underlined its new-found mid-field stature with Adrian Sutil coming 10th and Giancarlo Fisichella finishing 12th in the European Grand Prix.

Starting 12th on the grid, Sutil moved upto the fifth place before his first pit stop and drove an excellent race subsequently to cling onto his place.Fisichella, who had started 16th on the grid, had a wheel-to-wheel race with Red Bull`s Mark Webber for a while and the Italian did well to finish ahead of both the Toyota cars. Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello registered his first victory since 2004 to put himself back in the title hunt. The Brazilian finished 2.3s clear of McLaren`s Lewis Hamilton, with Kimi Raikkonen third for Ferrari. Using a two-stop strategy, Sutil brought home Force India`s fourth top-10 finish this season, and his best result since the season opening Australian Grand Prix, while Fisichella`s was his fifth top 12 position this year. Sutil enjoyed a long battle with the two BMWs, passing Nick Heidfeld on his first stop on lap 22 and putting pressure on Robert Kubica on his second stint. On his third run Sutil chased the Red Bull of Mark Webber for ninth position, matching the Australian`s lap times, to finish just three seconds away at the flag fall. Fisichella made a good start off the line and finished the first lap in 13th position, three places up on his grid slot. Using a one-stop strategy he was able to safeguard this position and move up a further place midway through the race. Despite missing the points, Sutil was upbeat with his race. "Today was a good performance with no mistakes, good lap times and we showed a clear step forward. I think tenth was the maximum we could do from 12th position on the grid," said the German driver. "Everything worked perfectly. I was behind the two BMWs for my first stint and couldn`t get past on the track but the team did a really good stop and I could pass Heidfeld in the pitlane. "I`m really looking forward to Spa now - I love the track and with the pace we`ve shown this weekend it`s looking promising for a good result there," he added Fisichella, on his part, felt things could have been better with a better place on the starting grid. "It was a difficult race as the grid position was not as good as we had hoped so we used a one-stop strategy, which gave us an opportunity to gain some positions," he said. "I could keep a good pace though I had to watch the tyres to keep them until the end. Twelfth is a good result for us. We made a few positions and now seem to be ahead of Toyota and some other cars. We need another step like we made this weekend and we can easily score points," said the veteran Italian. Force India chairman Vijay Mallya did not fuss over the points and felt the update introduced here made a difference. "Overall it`s been a strong performance for us all weekend and probably our most competitive race in two seasons," Mallya said. "The upgrades we introduced this race have clearly given us a big step forward and we`re now really mixing it in the midfield positions. "I`d like to say thanks to all the team back at Silverstone who have worked very hard to get the development through, and to the drivers for doing it justice. I can`t wait to get to Belgium now," added Mallya, also the team principal. Bureau Report