Force India team boss Vijaly Mallya said that the inaugural Formula One race in his home country had been a "great event", and said that he was "delighted" to see his team score points in their first-ever home race.
The Indian Grand Prix on Sunday was the first-ever F1 event in the country, and saw Sebastian Vettel take the victory at the Buddh International Circuit.But Force India secured some glory of their own when Adrian Sutil took two points for the team's championship challenge with 9th place in the race.
And Mallya said afterwards that he was happy that the team had secured a place in the "history books" at the first Indian race.
"Today's Indian Grand Prix was a great event and I hope that all the fans enjoyed the day as much as I did," he beamed after the race, "We targeted points and that's exactly what we delivered with Adrian's excellent drive to ninth.
"As for Paul [di Resta], he performed well, but we went very aggressive with the strategy to cover the chance of a safety car. In the end it didn't work out, but we needed to cover our bases."
He added: "These two points are important for our championship battle and I'm delighted that Sahara Force India will go down in the record books for scoring points in the inaugural Indian Grand Prix."
Sutil himself added that ninth place had been the best possible result he could have achieved in the race.
"It was quite a good race and I think we can be happy with the two points today," the German shrugged, "In the early laps I struggled with the rear of the car, with a bit of oversteer, and could not hold off the Toro Rossos who were a bit quicker today.
"But in the second and third stint the car balance improved and I was able to keep the Sauber [Perez] behind me in the closing laps.
"I think ninth was probably the maximum today and I hope Vijay will have a smile on his face tonight."
Di Resta, who ended 13th after failing to make his strategy of starting the race on the harder Pirelli tyres work, added: ""We went for a fairly aggressive strategy today and it was always the plan to come in early with the hope of a safety car.
"It was a gamble to get rid of the hard tyre early on, and if it had worked we would have gained a pit stop and done the race on three sets of softs, which was the quickest way."
He added: "It's good that Adrian has picked up a couple of points, which are valuable for the championship, and that was the reason why we split the strategies."
Also happy after his home race was HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan, who finished 17th for HRT, and said that he had enjoyed himself in front of his home fans.
"I had a great grand prix and I really enjoyed myself, it was an amazing experience," the Indian driver gushed.
"To finish 17th in my home grand prix is the best I could have wished for with the car we have and beating my teammate and one Lotus on the way makes it all the more satisfying."
He added: "It's an awesome feeling to have completed the first ever Indian Grand Prix and to have been competitive with our main rivals which proved a lot of points."
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