Michael Schumacher said he was extremely pleased to achieve the maximum result possible for Mercedes in India, as he came through from 11th on the grid to beat his teammate Nico Rosberg to fifth place.
Schumacher made up several positions on the opening lap, then jumped his teammate by staying out slightly longer at the final stops.
"I am obviously happy about the race today," he said. "We achieved the maximum that we could hope for, and as a team we maximized our potential. Fifth and sixth places are a great result for us. On top of that, my car was very nicely sorted for the race and very stable.
"At the start, everything worked out according to my strategy as I deliberately didn't want to use KERS in the first two corners and save it for the long straight where I knew that I could make up some positions. In the second stint, I managed to maintain my tires so I could stay out longer and that was enough for fifth place."
He added that the most encouraging aspect was that the result proved Mercedes was continuing to make good progress.
"What's really important at the moment is that we keep pushing and trying to improve, and that is what we achieved today," said Schumacher.