Force India team principal Vijay Mallya hailed the German Grand Prix as a ‘wonderful team performance’ after Adrian Sutil collected eight points to move the team up to seventh place in the Constructors’ Standings. Paul di Resta fell victim to a first lap collision with Nick Heidfeld - for which the Renault driver was later penalised with a drive-through penalty – and finished P13.

“Today has been a wonderful team performance and I’m delighted to see Adrian finish in sixth place – a result that everybody has been working hard to achieve,” said Mallya. “We have been a bit unlucky in the last few races, but today we demonstrated the true pace of the car and delivered the result to match it.

“The only frustration is that Paul was the unfortunate victim of a first lap accident with Heidfeld. Without this, I’m sure we could have had both Force Indias finish in the points. Even so, we welcome the eight points scored today – points that are important for our championship position and move us ahead of Toro Rosso.”

Sutil himself was obviously very pleased with a sixth-place finish at his home race: “It was a great race today and I’m so pleased to get this result for the team because we really deserved it,” said the German. “We had a great car all weekend and everything just went perfectly. “The tyres lasted well and we definitely made the right calls with the strategy, which helped me beat Nico [Rosberg] in the final stint. It was actually quite a lonely race for me because I spent most of the time running in clean air so I could really show the potential of the car.

“To get this result in my home race also makes it extra special and I’d like to thank the fans for their support this weekend. But this is just the start because we still have lots of work to do in the coming races to score lots of points and catch up with the teams ahead of us.”

Di Resta leaves the Nürburgring disappointed, especially has the Scot expects he could have scored good points today. “Once again it’s a frustrating end to my weekend because I had a great chance to score some points today,” he said. “I made a reasonable start, maintained my position and I was racing with Michael into the first corner. Then I got hit from behind, which must have been Nick [Heidfeld], and that spun me around and compromised my race. “It’s a shame because we came here with a great package and we had a good strategy for the race. I pushed hard to recover, but points were just out of reach today. The good news is that Adrian has brought in a lot of points and shown just how competitive the car is.”