Jun.15 (GMM) Vitantonio Liuzzi proved in Canada he still deserves a place on the formula one grid, his team boss Vijay Mallya insists.

Heading into the Montreal round, speculation was rife that Force India was considering replacing the underperforming Italian with the team's rookie reserve driver Paul di Resta.

But Liuzzi, 28, travelled to Canada with a new VJM03 chassis and not only outqualified his teammate Adrian Sutil but put in the team's best qualifying performance of the season.

Starting from fifth on the grid, however, he was hit several times by Felipe Massa and needed to pit for repairs, but still finished in the points.

"I am so happy to see Tonio back to his best again," Mallya, not in Canada last weekend while he re-launched his career in Indian politics, said.

"We believed in him and wanted to give him the support he needed to realise the potential we knew was in there."

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