Esteban Ocon has reached a level where a failure to score a top-10 finish would yield a bigger surprise than the opposite.
The Force India driver, who just can't stop finishing races, in the points, notched up another good performance in Austin where Ocon crossed the line sixth.
The team's resident pink panther was best of the rest behind F1's three big teams, despite kick starting his weekend in Texas a bit under the weather.
"Sixth place feels very satisfying because it was not an easy race with so much pressure from Sainz in the final stages," said Ocon.
"Before the race there was an issue on the grid with a control unit in my car, but the team did a really good job to make the repairs in time for the start.
"I spent a big part of the race just managing my pace and looking after the tyres to make the one-stop strategy work.
"The team told me when to push and when to manage the pace, and to finish sixth shows we judged this almost perfectly."
Half way through Sunday's race, Ocon saw team mate Sergio Perez snapping at his heels, but the Frenchman upped the pace and managed to build himself a cushion to safe-guard his result.
With a total of 26 finishes, Ocon has now surpassed Max Chilton's record for the most consecutive finishes from their first F1 race as a rookie.
"The car was strong today with good pace and it’s another race where we have come away feeling we achieved the maximum result that was possible."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
