Carlos Sainz believes he and Toro Rosso produced a "perfect" weekend as he matched his best result in Formula 1 with a sixth place in Monaco.

The junior Red Bull team had been near the top of the timings since first practice on Thursday and the Spaniard once again showed his prodigious talent, capitalising on the opportunity and holding off Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps to score eight important points.

“What a result, what a perfect weekend,” a delighted 22-year-old declared afterwards. “We need to enjoy this moment, because it’s not usual to achieve a faultless Grand Prix on the streets of Monaco – and this time we did.

“We put in good laps in practice, in yesterday’s qualifying session and, in today’s race, we were able to keep a world champion in a faster car behind and finish sixth, so it definitely feels so good.”

The result moved Sainz upto eighth place in the Drivers standings and also helped Toro Rosso in their battle for fourth in the Constructors' championship, as Force India failed to score for the first time this season and Felipe Massa only finished ninth for Williams.

“We’ve also been quicker than the rest of the midfield throughout the whole weekend and I’d like to thank the whole team for this,” Sainz continued. “They gave me a very good car to drive. I really enjoyed today’s race.

“Now it’s time to celebrate this well-deserved result with the team before starting to think about the Canadian GP, which is up next.”