Sauber's Charles Leclerc says that mixing it up with the big boys in Baku - and particularly Fernando Alonso - was as special as the first championship points he conquered while doing it.
The Monegasque put in a flawless drive on Sunday, launching his race from P13, after impressively making the Q2 cut on Saturday, and securing early on a spot in the top ten.
The high point of his afternoon was undoubtedly battling Alonso for position and passing the McLaren driver down the inside of Turn 1 on lap 26 as he took full advantage of his fresher tyres.
"I mean, Fernando was a driver I was watching when I was five years old in Monaco, so to race with him today is quite crazy," said a beaming Leclerc on Sunday.
"And yeah, to have been able to fight with him - okay, we had a tyre advantage, but even at the end of the race we were looking strong compared to McLaren.
"During the whole race we were looking strong compared to them. It's a great boost for the future."
Before putting one over on Alonso, Leclerc had raced on a par with the Red Bulls while also keeping Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at bay, a state of affairs which astonished the 20-year-old.
"I had a point of reference, they weren't pulling away from us. It was quite a big surprise in the car, seeing that," he added.
"I also had Kimi behind, I think he had some damage, but we could keep him behind, which was also very, very strange."
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