Brazil GP: Top-10 finish for Force India's Sutil, Di Resta

Sahara Force India ended the 2011 Formula One season on a high as Adrian Sutil finished sixth and Paul di Resta eighth to earn 12 points for the team in the Brazilian Grand Prix, which Red Bull's Mark Webber won to record his first victory of the calendar.

Webber pipped teammate and world champion Sebastian Vettel, who started from pole but encountered a gearbox problem mid-way.

McLaren's Jenson Button was third, followed by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

It was the fourth time in the season that both the Force India cars finished in the points bracket.

Force India claimed the sixth position in the constructors' championship with 69 points, 15 more than Sauber. In the last season Force India had finished seventh after being pipped by Williams by just one point.

Sutil matched his best finish of the season with ninth place in the drivers' competition (42 points), bettering his 11th position last season.

However, Sutil had earned 68 points in the 2010 season.

Di Resta, in his rookie season, finished 13th in the drivers' standings with 27 points.

Vettel, who had already sealed the championship finished on top with 392 points, followed by Button (270), Webber (258) and Alonso (257).

Di Resta, who started the race from 11th on the grid, briefly snatched 10th position from Michael Schumacher in lap two but the German legend won back his place.

Sutil remained in the eight spot but there was a fierce fight for number three to six positions among Button, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa.

Schumacher suffered a puncture in the left rear tyre after colliding with Renault's Bruno Senna in lap 10 which forced him into the pit-lane, helping Resta to get into the top-10.

Senna got the drive through penalty for causing the collision but it cost Schumacher heavily as he was pushed to last position.

In the next lap, Alonso overtook Jenson Button at turn five to capture third place.

Webber took the race lead from Vettel in lap 30 soon after the German was told that he had a serious gearbox problem.

Hamilton crashed out of the race after encountering a gearbox failure in lap 48 and that helped both Sutil and Resta move up by a position each.

Sutil then made a brilliant overtaking move in lap 50 to snatch sixth position from Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.

There was no problem whatsoever for Webber to hold on to lead till the end of the race.