Di Resta stakes claim for contract

Having started 11th on the grid it was decided that the Scotsman would stop just once in the race as he eeked out 20 laps on the option tyre before completing the race on the primes.

For Di Resta, the eight points signify a continued upturn for the 27-year-old following a fallow spell of results, coming on the back of an eighth place finish in India.

“We executed a perfect strategy,” said Di resta, who like the rest of the gird, were powerless to stop world champion Sebastian Vettel cruising to a seventh straight win.

“Being fast at the right points in the race when we had to do and now hopefully we will keep the momentum ahead of Sauber who look like they have got a strong car but we got the better of them today.

“It (one stopping) was a good choice. Everyone in the engineering office got their calculations spot on today to what could be executed out there.

“If we are all given the tools properly that is the job we can do and that is the job we were doing at the beginning of the year.

“If we execute what we did here, which was a perfect race, and at the last grand prix, we can get in the points.

“But if we are a little bit off that and other people do a perfect job then we seem to be just outside of that.

“It is a credit to everyone in the team that the momentum has carried from Suzuka and that progress has just continued.

“We have got the car in a window where it gives you confidence and you can drive it hard.”

Di Resta sits 10th in the drivers’ championship but his future with Force India remains unclear with team principal Vijay Mallya insisting an announcement on who will drive for the team next year will not be made until December.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was lost for words to describe the domination of Vettel after the four-time world champion cruised to his 11th victory of the season in Abu Dhabi.

The German led every lap of the grand prix as he drew level with Michael Schumacher’s tally of consecutive wins in a single season.

Horner stopped short of labelling his driver the best of all time, but did seem to have run out of superlatives for the 26-year-old.

“I think Sebastian has stepped it up another gear,” he said.

“Times are very different. We are all on a standard tyre now, there is no testing and we are limited on how many engines we can have, so it is a much more even playing field (than in the past).

“It is always difficult to compare generations to generations but, at the level he is performing, I don’t have words to describe how phenomenal he is.”

Vettel’s team-mate Mark 
Webber had threatened to end the German’s streak of wins when he sealed pole position on Saturday.

But the champion was unperturbed yesterday, storming into the lead at the first corner and 
refusing to yield for the next 55 laps.

Webber took second place, with the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg taking the final podium position, but Vettel’s class saw him finish over 30 seconds clear of his team-mate, leaving Horner full of praise for the drive.

“It was truly impressive, absolutely mind-blowing in many respects,” he said.

“After the start, Seb just got his head down and disappeared. He had the longevity and at no point did he look under any threat.

“He won by a very dominant margin that could have been even greater in the end if he hadn’t managed the pace after the second pit stop.”

Lewis Hamilton brought his Mercedes home seventh.