Force India's chance of collecting points from the year's final race received a body blow with Vitantonio Liuzzi occupying a lowly 17th place for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, just ahead of teammate Adrian Sutil.

It was heartbreak for both the Force India drivers as none of them made it to the second qualifying session (Q2) with Liuzzi finishing 17th and Sutil 18th.

They were among the bottom five to drop out after the first session.

Former Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella, double world champion Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean were the three other drivers who dropped out after Q1.

Both Sutil and Liuzzi were left to grapple with grip problem and struggled to keep the car on track.