Force India says it will not let its disappointing end to 2009 overshadow the massive strides it has made this season.
The team's breakthrough year came to a quiet end in Abu Dhabi as early tyre problems left Adrian Sutil back in 18th and Tonio Liuzzi could manage no better than 15th.
But at the end of a season that saw the squad shake off its previous consistent back of the field status and score a pole position and two podium finishes, boss Vijay Mallya said he would still go into the winter satisfied.
"Of course points would have been a fitting end to the season, but sadly we could not achieve them today," he said.
"All the same both drivers gave it absolutely everything until the final lap and I couldn't have asked for more.
"It's been an excellent season for Force India this year and I would like to thank the entire team, both at the track and at our bases in Silverstone and Brackley, for their outstanding commitment and skills that have led to this success.
"We have achieved our objectives and then some more and can only build on this over the winter into 2010."
Sutil agreed that Force India had a lot to be proud of.
"It has been a very good season, naturally with a lot of ups and downs, but we've gone massively forward from the beginning of the season to the end. I think we can be very proud of this progress," he said.
Liuzzi was frustrated that he hadn't been able to add to the team's points tally in his five-race stint replacing Giancarlo Fisichella, but still reckoned he had done enough to show he deserved to be back in Formula 1 full-time.
"We knew it would be difficult to score points [today] and although I would have liked to get some on the board at the end of the season I am happy we have showed some good form in these five races," he said.