Sahara Force India celebrated their 100th race in style, scoring seven points with Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil, finishing seventh and 10th, at Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Starting 17th on the grid, Di Resta drove a magnificent race and climbed to seventh place he maintained to pocket six points.
Sutil, who started eighth, was lucky to get away with a spin in Turn 2 early on while fighting Valtteri Bottas of Williams for sixth place and lost his chance of finishing eighth when he was given a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags for the Lewis Hamilton/Fernando Alonso fight.
Di Resta, expectedly, was over the moon. “To finish the race in seventh having started 17th is a great result and a top job by the team,” he said.
“I didn’t manage to get any long run data on Friday so it feels extra sweet to make this one-stop strategy work with a very long stint on the mediums. It also feels good to come back so strong after a difficult qualifying session,” Di Resta said.
“The tyres lasted very well, the lap times were competitive and the team told me it was my decision about when to make my stop. As soon as I felt the tyres starting to drop off, I came in. Then it was a case of looking after the supersofts for the final few laps,” the Briton said elaborating on his race strategy.