“Unfortunately in his first pit-stop Giancarlo had a clutch problem and had a series of stalls, which dropped him right down. Thanks to all the team at the track and back at base. Although we do not have any points, everyone has worked very hard.”

“All our congratulations to Lewis and to McLaren for clinching the championship in such dramatic fashion,” added Mallya. “It would have been a dream result for us to get points in our last race of the year – and for some time it looked like that dream would come true.

“Unfortunately it just did not go our way, but we showed we could make the calls and race competitively. I would like to thank my team, my drivers and all our valued sponsors for sticking with it, not losing faith and pushing right until the very end. We know things can only get better now.”