Shattering end to di Resta's eventful race

Force India's Paul di Resta certainly a turbulent time of it in the 2012 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil, with the weather playing havoc with his race strategy and sending him for a spin on more than one occasion.

The Scot gained three positions on the first lap of the race to run in seventh place behind Felipe Massa in the opening laps before the worsening conditions in Sao Paulo forced the team to call di Resta in for a change to intermediate tyres on lap 10. "It was a very tricky race and not easy to make the calls with the weather constantly changing," said di Resta.

"With Paul we played a slightly different strategy with an early switch to the intermediate tyres, as most teams did," explained Force India's deputy team principal Bob Fernley.

Like others who switched to intermediates at this point, di Resta found that the tyres 'cooked' without enough moisture on the track to keep them cool and as a result was forced back onto pit lane just eight laps later for a set of new hard compound tyres.

"Ultimately we made the wrong decision to switch to the intermediates in the early stages, because the track began to dry quite soon after my stop," rued di Resta.

"I went back to the slicks just before the safety car came out," he explained. "That brought us back into play, but I struggled for grip at the restart and lost a few places," he said, referring to a spin that dropped him briefly all the way to the back of the field in 21st place.

However, as the race wore on and other pit stop strategies came into play, di Resta made rapid progress and by lap 30 he was running back up in seventh place again.

He improved on that to break into the top five on lap 55, but the weather was by now taking another turn for the worse by this point and di Resta needed to pit for a new attempt at the intermediates.

"When we went back to the intermediates in the closing stages we were more competitive and I was up in eighth place," he said. But intermediates couldn't deal with the amount of water now starting to pool in the final section of the Interlagos track, and di Resta was the unfortunate driver to feel the consequences on the penultimate lap of the race.

"Unfortunately with a lap to go I aquaplaned in the final corner," he said. "It was a big hit with the wall, but I'm okay," he added, after he climbed out of the wreck of the Force India, which still crumpled on the concrete outside wall on the other side of the track to the pit lane entry and caused the race to end behind a safety car.

"He was looking set for points until the crash towards the end, but it's a relief to see him get out of the car okay," said Fernley.

The team came close to a famous podium finish with di Resta's team mate Nico Hulkenberg, who led more laps of the Grand Prix than anyone else on Sunday afternoon but who ended up penalised for causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton on lap 55.

"For a while it looked like we were heading for a fairly-tale result with Nico leading for so much of the race and showing his skill in the tricky conditions," said deputy team principal Bob Fernley. "We had a great car today and had the pace to win, but it was not meant to be. [Even so,] we end the season on a positive note and head into the winter optimistic that we can start next year just as well."

It's not yet clear who will actually be in the seat for the Force India team in 2013, although Hulkenberg is definitely exited the squad to move down pit lane and join Sauber who finished just ahead of Force India in the final constructors championship standings after Brazil.

Di Resta is stil believed to be in the running to retain his seat with the team, while other candidates include Jules Bianchi (who filled in for Romain Grosjean in the Lotus at Spa) and Adrian Sutil (who previously raced with the team for four seasons from 2008 to 2011).

GP2 driver Luiz Razia has also said that he's optimistic of securing a ride in F1 in 2013, with Force India believed to be his best and preferred option for a race seat.