Force India upbeat despite retirements

Both drivers gained places in the first corner confusion, with Sutil getting up to 10th place before having to pull off with a puncture. Fisichella later retired with a gearbox failure while battling with Nico Rosberg's Williams and the two Hondas.

"Today was a shame for the team as I think we had every chance of doing very well," said chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne.

"Adrian had a good first lap and on a two stop strategy it was looking promising for the rest of the race. Unfortunately he picked up a puncture, which was the end of his race. Giancarlo was also putting in a strong performance despite some contact in the first corner, which damaged his nose and gave some understeer as a result.

"While it was a great shame for the team, it's good to see a strong race pace once again."

Sutil was left ruing his misfortune after his tyre failed just past the pit entrance eight laps into the race.

"Suddenly on the straight the tyre blew and I had to stop the car," said the German.

"It was a shame as we were running 10th and it was feeling really good. We had a fantastic start - from 19th to 11th at the end of the first corner as I stayed to the inside and clear of all the problems, and I was in 10th position within a couple of laps.

"It was going very well and we had a good strategy, it was just so unlucky again."

Team co-owner Vijay Mallya felt Sutil had a chance of scoring points had he continued.

"Adrian was driving an excellent race and there was high potential there for him to score points, as he did last year, but then our luck ran out," he said.

"We have however proved yet again that we are strong contenders and can fight hard with the other teams, all we need now is a bit of a break."