Carlos Sainz believes his early transfer to the Renault factory team will be to his advantage in 2018.
Sainz is on a one-year loan from Toro Rosso as a result of multi-party deal over engine supplies. His team mate at Renault is Nico Hulkenberg, who joined the team at the start of the year.
He had been able to make the move before the end of the 2017 season thanks to Renault coming to an agreement with its former driver Jolyon Palmer over compensation for an early severance
Sainz was seventh in his début for the team in Austin, but then failed to finish in two of the remaining three races. He was just outside the points in 11th place in Brazil.
Even so, the driver was glad to have got an early start at his new team.
"I wanted to do a step up after my 2017 season and my step up arrived four races earlier than expected," he said.
"To get to race with the team that I'm going to race in 2018, to get those four races, is obviously a challenge.
"A lot of effort [went] into that last four races," he added. "But it has paid off, and it will pay off in the future."
Renault's Formula 1 advisor Alain Prost agreed that the early move was crucial to both the driver and the team.
"[It's] very important for us," said the four-time world champion.
"Obviously we don't know if we are going to keep him at the end of 2018," he conceded. "But we had to make this choice,.
"We are not in the position to be world champions yet. So we have to put step by step," he explained. "We'll see what's going to happen next year with the market, as it's very open. We need to concentrate on the work with Carlos and Nico."
Before his move to Enstone, Sainz had picked up 48 points with Toro Rosso. With the extra six points from Austin, he finished in ninth place in the drivers standings.
"When there was a chance to score big points we have been the ones scoring big points," he agreed. "Whenever the opportunity has presented itself, we've grabbed it.
"Even if on occasions it has been tough to get points in the Toro Rosso - or even the Renault.
"That's why I'm P9 in the championship," he noted. "That's why I have many points, so I can be proud of where I was."
Sainz added that if someone had told him at the start of the year "that my season would have gone as it has gone, I would have been happy."
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