Alex Albon was satisfied after coming through from the back of the grid to P10 at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Toro Rosso driver had it all to do after crashing in final practice on Saturday, preventing his participation in qualifying, but knowing he had a strong car, Albon made the most of it to score a point for the second straight race.
A result that also earned him the ‘driver of the day’ honour as voted by the fans.
“I finished the race, got told I was ‘driver of the day’, and I was like ‘OK thank you’ but it didn’t feel like an amazing [performance]. I did start last but it wasn’t like a crazy race,” he claimed.
“I’m happy to get ‘driver of the day’, I would say that on Saturday I was maybe the worst driver of the day, so it was nice to get come back strong on Sunday.”
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His position was far from comfortable in the closing laps though, as the Haas of Romain Grosjean made a late charge.
“The last few laps were a bit nerve-racking but I’m really happy with the result,” Albon said.
“He [Grosjean] definitely had strong pace towards the end of the race. I was surprised because I knew he was going to catch me, the team told me before that he would be on my tail with four laps to go – but following here really overheats your tyres.
“I found that out already when I was coming through the field. I knew it was going to be difficult for him, but I’m also thankful for the blue flags coming.”
In summary, the F2 graduate added: “Coming from Saturday I was a little bit down but the guys did an amazing job to get the car ready. I knew we could get the car into the points and I knew it was not going to be easy.
“We had the car to do it and I’m really happy.”
