Force India drivers deliver season's best finish

The result was the best for Sahara Force India, who collected 16 points, surpassing their efforts at the Monaco Grand Prix where di Resta had finished seventh and Hulkenberg was eighth.

Hulkenberg, who collected 10 points today, improved upon his earlier best eighth-place finish at Monaco while di Resta, who got six points, had finished sixth at the Bahrain leg.

Sahara Force India are now at eighth place at the constructors' table with 44 points.

Hulkenberg, who started at eighth at the grid, gained three places to end the race 19.993 seconds behind winner Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who clocked one hour 44 minutes and 16.649 seconds.

Di Resta, who also gained three places after starting at 10th, was 22.866 seconds behind his Force India team-mate at the Valencia street circuit, which is notoriously tough for overtaking.

In an action-packed race, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren crashed out after a final lap collision with Pastor Maldonado of Williams, while defending double world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull was forced to retire after dominating most of the race from pole position.

Di Resta is on 27 points now while Hulkenberg has collected 17 points so far.

India's HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan finished 18th.