Force India's Adrian Sutil raced amazingly from 22nd on the grid to finish 12th at the Brazilian Grand Prix but Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed out after an accident in the penultimate race of the season, in Sao Paulo, on Sunday.
Force India returned empty handed for the fifth time in the season and a double finish eluded them yet again.
Sutil had qualified for 18th but a five-place penalty, he carried into the race from Korea, pushed him to almost to the rear on the grid. Sutil, who had failed to finish the previous two races, faced stiff competition from Mercedes' legendary driver Michael Schumacher and Robert Kubica while in the top-10.
It was important for Sutil to get some points after surrendering his 10th position in the drivers' championship to Ruben Barichello of Williams. Sutil remained in 11th position as Barichello also failed to get any points after finishing 14th.
Liuzzi, though, had a disappointing result as he crashed out in the 51st lap after ramming his car into the tyre wall. The Italian driver, who came into the race after a good result in Korea where he finished sixth, has failed to finish a race for the fifth time in the season and third time in the last four races.
Sutil sneaked into top-10 by lap number 16 and strengthened his position after that. By the half-way mark in the 71-lap race, Sutil was in eighth position.
It was a keen tussle from thereon as Schumacher and Kubica put a lot of pressure on Sutil. The Force India driver delayed his first pit stop and after coming to pit lane he dropped to 15th.
However, he kept pushing hard, gradually cleared the field and overtook Torro Rosso's Sebastian Buemi in lap 61 to get to 12th position.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won the race and was followed by his team-mate Mark Webber and championship leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Williams' Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth after starting from pole position.
