How Indians performed over the weekend (November 10-12)

Result: Ninth, DNF

Force India returned from the Brazilian Grand Prix with just two points and a DNF, an unsatisfactory result given its recent form.

Esteban Ocon’s race came to an end on the very first lap after Romain Grosjean lost control of his Haas at turn 6, pitching the Frenchman into the gravel. It was Ocon’s first retirement in F1.

Sergio Perez, too, became an innocent victim of first lap madness. He was pushed wide by Fernando Alonso early on, losing two positions in the process.

He went deep into the first stint to regain lost positions, but couldn’t re-pass either Alonso or Felipe Massa despite closing within a few car lengths towards the end of the race.

However, with fourth place already in the bag, Force India had one less reason to worry about its worst result since the Belgian GP.

Best result: 18th

Mahindra’s tenure in the Moto3 World Championship came to a conclusion in Valencia, with two of its rider finishing inside the top 20.

Kornfeil led the charge for Mahindra on a Peugeot-branded MGP30, finishing 18th. The Czech rider sprinted from 25th to 20th on the opening lap and then gained two more places in the remainder of the 31-lap encounter.

Meanwhile, factory-supported Aspar team’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta finished just over a second behind in 20th, down one spot from his starting position.

CIP’s Manuel Pagliani was next up in 22nd place and a fraction of a second ahead of Dalla Porta’s teammate Albert Arenas.

Marco Bezzecchi, who scored Mahindra’s only podium of 2017 at Motegi, ended up a distant 28th after falling off the bike early in the race.

Rotax Max Finals (Alva, Ibrahim, Aradhya)

Ruhaan Alva suffered a heartbreak in the Rotax Max Finals in Portugal after he was disqualified on technical grounds.

Alva, who gained recognition for securing the second runner-up spot in the EasyKart Italy Championship, had originally finished 12th in the Micro Max category with the sixth fastest lap of the race.

However, in the post-race scrutineering checks, the combined weight of him and his kart was found to be a mere 100 gram below the stipulated limit of 110kg, earning him a disqualification.

Rotax Asia Max Challenge race winner Muhammad Ibrahim was also disqualified, while double National Karting Champion Yash Aradhya failed to make it to the finals.