He may have missed out on a podium finish at Interlagos, but Nico Hulkenberg left Brazil a very happy man.
The German finished his Force India career on a high as he finished in fifth place, but he will be the first to admit that things could have been much better as he was in the lead for several laps.
"I'm not too disappointed," he said. "Fifth place is still a good result. I think I've learned a lot in this race. My first kilometres leading a race and fighting with the top guys, so it was pretty eventful and a hell of a race.
"I'm proud of what we've done and my drive. It's not perfect but I'm still happy."
The 25-year-old, who will drive for Sauber next season, looked set to claim his first podium in Formula One, but he lost the back of his car and collided with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton while they were battling for the lead.
While Hamilton's race was ruined by the incident, Hulkenberg was able to rejoin the continue after initially sliding off the track.
"It was quite unfortunately, obviously," he added. "We were challenging and we had Timo (Glock) and Heikki (Kovalainen) into turn one as well.
"I think Lewis ran out of space with Heikki and was a bit irritated there. I obviously decided to make a move into turn one and was on the damp side of the track and lost the rear a little bit. Unfortunately we collided.
"Looking at the incident I think it's just one of those things in racing. I think he could've turned away a bit. But the way it worked wasn't good for either of us."
