Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen said that he was shocked by claiming an eighth-place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The driver was one of many left in a mixed-up race position early in the race after being stacked with teammate Carlos Sainz Jr at the pitstop under the safety car.
However, Verstappen did manage to make his way through the manic midfield battle during the race to record his first career finish at the Shanghai International Circuit. The result leaves him in ninth-place in the Drivers’ Championship, being one of only six drivers to score points in every round so far in 2016.
“A race full of action! At the start, I had a good first reaction but then I wasn’t able to keep my position unfortunately,” the Dutchman said.
“From then on it was very tricky, and the safety car didn’t help as I lost even more ground with our double pit-stop, which meant I was at the back of the pack.”
Unsurprisingly, the young driver made use of his overtaking abilities to get back into the points positions.
“I stayed calm, overtook the rivals one by one and in the end, to cross the line in eighth position is something that if someone had told me at the beginning the race I wouldn’t have believed! I also think the team did a great job strategy wise, we were able to charge through the field and score some more points.”
