By Karl King
May 26 2008

Speaking after the incident that took away Sutil's chance of scoring the Force India F1 team's first ever points, Force team boss Vijay Mallya spoke of his sadness that his big chance was so cruelly removed. He also spoke of his belief that Adrian's performance would shut his critics up, some of whom had been predicting a mid-season swap with Tonio Liuzzi.

"It was the saddest moment of my Motor Sports career. To achieve a top five position in Formula One and that too in Monaco was a dream that ended just seven minutes and less than five laps from the chequered flag with Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari running into the rear of Sutil's car.

"Adrian Sutil drove a brilliant race, exhibited superlative car control in wet and slippery conditions and proved conclusively to the World that he is an exceptionally talented driver.

"All members of the Force India Formula One team came together and executed a brilliant race strategy and car set up. We have demonstrated that we are a much improved and competitive team now and we certainly had an opportunity to score championship points today.

"Giancarlo Fisichella has been troubled with gearbox problems all this weekend and lost three gears during the race despite which he was achieving quick lap times. We retired him from the race so as to avoid further damage.

"This performance in Monaco has given a huge boost to the confidence of the team and our drivers.

"Though we are sadly disappointed we will take away many positives and renew our determination to demonstrate further improvement over the rest of the season."