For the first time, both the Force India cars finished among points but Hispania driver Karun Chandhok was among the 12 drivers who did not last the distance in the Monaco Grand Prix, which turned out to be a bloodbath of a race here on Sunday.
Beginning 12th on the grid, Force India’s Adrian Sutil drove a sensible race to finish ninth, just ahead of teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi who had started two places ahead of him.
The three points earned today — Sutil contributed two and Liuzzi one — consolidated their sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 27 points.
Karun drove a mature race and steered cleared of the chaos around him but his luck ran out in the fag end and the Indian in fact had a close shave as Lotus’ Jarno Trulli went over the top of Karun’s car with the alarmed Indian ducking and raising both his hands in horror.
Utterly dejected after the sad end to his race, Karun said though Trulli later apologised, the accident robbed him of the chance of recording the best finish among the new three teams.
“Trulli has apologised to me but there was absolutely no way he could get through there,” said the Chennai driver after the race, which saw yet another Red Bull one-two with Mark Webber staving off the challenge from teammate Sebastian Vettel.
“It’s a real shame because I was driving my best race of the year so far and I was on track to be the best of the new teams. His car just missed my head,” said the Indian.
