Force India finished amongst the points for the second consecutive time this season while Narain Karthikyean could only complete 14 laps in his Hispania at the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull won his second consecutive race (1:37:39.832) ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button (1:37:43.093) and Renault's Nick Hiedfeld (1:38:04.907).
Force India rookie driver Paul di Resta (1:39:11.395) clocked the 10th fastest time at the chequered flag to secure a point at the Sepang International Circuit. The British driver finished at a similar position in the season-opener Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago.
The team's senior driver Adrian Sutil (1:39:21.211) came one place behind Di Resta but was out of the points bracket. The Vijay Mallya owned outfit now has four points from two races and are lying 7th in the constructors championship.
Di Resta was pleased to earn a point but said he wanted to overtake the seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, who finished ninth and collected two points.
"I am quite happy I must say. The team did a good job with the strategy. I just could not hold off Michael at the end. He had fresher tyres and we had to stop a bit earlier for my third stop than predicted. But I also did not want to risk the championship point. We were battling with cars that were a little bit quicker than us today, so overall I think we had a great race," said di Resta.
{{/usCountry}}"I am quite happy I must say. The team did a good job with the strategy. I just could not hold off Michael at the end. He had fresher tyres and we had to stop a bit earlier for my third stop than predicted. But I also did not want to risk the championship point. We were battling with cars that were a little bit quicker than us today, so overall I think we had a great race," said di Resta.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, things did not go according to plan to for India's Karthikeyan. He had come into the race after an improved performance in the qualifying Saturday where he was able make it to the starting grid by falling under the 107 percent time rule. But the reliability of the two-race old car F111 was always going to be a tough ask and Karthikyean was forced to retire on the 14th lap.
Hispania's other driver Vitantonio Liuzzi managed 46 laps out of the 56-lap race.
The next race is scheduled in Shanghai April 15-17.