After being positioned nicely at 10th on the grid and a fast car at his disposal, Force India driver Adrian Sutil believes a top six finish just slipped through his fingers in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Sutil, who went on to clock the second fastest lap of the season opener at Bahrain's Sakhir circuit, saw his point hopes being dashed after a cloud of smoke from the back of Mark Webber's car blinded him and his VJM03 spun, dropping him down to second last position.
"I think in this race my pace was good enough for the top five or top six," said Sutil, who eventually finished 12th.
His teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi brought smiles with a ninth place finish and Sutil reckoned the outfit was good enough to be regularly among points.
"We are able to run in the top 10 very easily and scoring points should be possible in the next races so we keep that momentum at the moment," Sutil explained.
Liuzzi was naturally elated having scored his first points for the Silverstone-based outfit.
"We saw that we had a really great performance compared to last year and the car is improving. The team is doing really great job and that's why I like this team," said the Italian.
Liuzzi said Force India's comparatively limited resource notwithstanding, the team was good enough to give its big brothers a good run for their money.
"The teams ahead of us invested a huge amount of money. But our group is trying to show that with small resources with a heart you can make a really great job anyway," he said.
Hispania driver Karun Chandhok's mood, however, was somber. The Chennai driver sounded apologetic after his much-anticipated F1 debut did not last even three minutes.
"Sorry, this was my fifth lap on this track. I hit a bump in the new part of the circuit, I was not that much experienced in that part of the track as I had driven only four timed laps over the weekend," Karun said after the race.
"I was pushed on exit curb, trying to bring tyres in gently, I did not know that part of the circuit. I want to thank my mechanics for accompanying my first laps on this track and the whole team for a great week-end and long sleepless hours. Now let's look forward to start again in Melbourne," he added.
