Carlos Sainz continued his record of scoring in every Monaco Grand Prix he has raced in after sixth place on Sunday.

The Spaniard just squeaked into the top 10 in qualifying and would capitalise on a longer first stint to finish 'best of the rest' with McLaren.

The decisive moment would come on the opening lap though as he made a remarkable move as Massanet which would ultimately put him position for his eventual finish.

“Good haul of points this weekend,” Sainz stated post-race. “This feels particularly good because we went through some difficult parts this weekend and we just built it up and did a good lap of qualifying.

“I got a really good start off the line and managed to pass the two Toro Rossos around the outside of Turn 3 which was probably the best move of my career in F1 so far.

“Then we put some good laps together before and after the stop and we got the pitstop just right and, yeah, P6.”

With Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen still ahead, however, it would be their decision to pit under the Safety Car which then gave Sainz the all-important track position.

“We knew I had some pace left after the Safety Car, which is why we didn’t pit under the Safety Car. Then I put together a strong 10 or 12 laps after the Safety Car and opened a good gap,” he explained.

“Then we pitted when we had to pit. It was tight – I had to defend hard against Daniil Kvyat and I did the fastest lap immediately defending against his overcut. It was great timing and a great call.”