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Force India silenced critics - Mallya

Force India secured its second double-points finish of the season in Monaco © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Vijay Mallya

• Teams:
• Racing Point

Vijay Mallya believes Force India was able to "silence some critics of the team" with its strong performance in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil finished fifth while Paul di Resta was ninth as Force India scored 12 points in Monte Carlo, bettered only by Mercedes and Red Bull. Mallya said the whole team "performed superbly" and that he hopes the strong result after a competitive start to the season will act as a catalyst for the race in Canada this weekend.

"The emotions of Monaco are still fresh in our memory as our attention turns to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix," Mallya said. "Both our drivers and the team performed superbly on the streets of Monte Carlo and it is very satisfying to see us fifth in the Championship after a third of the season.

"The race in Monaco showed the sheer class of our two drivers, and probably helped silence some critics of the team. Adrian's moves on two former World Champions will stay in our memories for a long time, and so will Paul's determined performance as he went from 17th to ninth."

Mallya believes Force India is getting closer to scoring a podium finish this season after being unlucky in earlier races.

"I think we are now knocking on the door of our first podium finish since 2009, and it's time to do that all-important step. Montreal would be a great place to do so - it is a track that favours overtaking and our car has shown the race pace to finish among the leaders, so everything is possible.

"I am proud of everyone in the team because we have achieved good results - and claimed 44 points - despite some very unfortunate occurrences. With a bit more luck, we would be even further ahead of McLaren: but the focus is on the future. We know our rivals will be more competitive in the next few rounds, but we have shown we can mix with the big teams and we intend to do so for the coming races too."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.