Force India was left to dwell on several poor races after failing to overhaul McLaren for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Silverstone-based team had to start all over again from the Belgian Grand Prix having lost all their points following the mid-season takeover by Lawrence Stroll.
Immediately though, they set about repairing the damage finishing as ‘best of the rest’ at Spa and Monza.
The momentum would stall a little in the final races, however, and the final result would see them 10 points behind McLaren in seventh.
“Sixth was possible, but we just made some mistakes in the last few races,” team boss Otmar Szafnauer told Autosport.
“Singapore was a big one, and we had a brake failure in Mexico. So that cost us sixth.
“There were points in the race [in Abu Dhabi] when we were mathematically ahead of McLaren, as before we pitted we were running fifth and sixth,” he pointed out, “But you’ve got to wait until the end.”
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Indeed, engine problems for Esteban Ocon at Yas Marina would end all hopes, even so, the American boss conceded the 52 points were still relatively satisfying.
“We’re happy-ish. From where we were in Spa, sixth was achievable, but seventh is not bad,” Szafnauer added.
“In Spa we were last, so to come back to seventh was pretty good.”