AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda says a "consistent" effort in last weekend's US Grand Prix produced not only a top-ten finish but also his best race so far in Formula 1.
Tsunoda's maiden campaign in Formula 1 has been a bumpy ride, with a strong start and points in Bahrain followed by erratic performances and a string of crashes.
Yet in September, Red Bull announced that it was handing the 21-year-old Japanese driver a second season alongside Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri.
Although he qualified among the top-ten in Turkey, Tsunoda failed to score points on race day. But in Austin, where he once again reached Q3, the young charger held his own among the first half of the field, scoring his first points since Hungary.
"It was a good step," he said. "Long time no points, and I think from especially Turkey I had a quite good progress, and in the end in Turkey I had a big mistake, but I improved those things and brought the car back at home.
"I was quite consistent, and also I think the best race I did in the season so far, even with this difficult situation.
"I think I need lots of space, I have to learn, so just keep pushing and having more consistent points."
Tsunoda reckoned the foundation for his productive result at the Circuit of the Americas was rooted in a strong opening lap.
"Normally I lose quite a lot positions on the first lap," he commented. "And this time I gained a couple of positions, went a little bit more aggressive compared to other rounds, and it was okay, so I'll just keep doing like this.
"I'm happy, especially as my teammate had an unfortunate retirement and [I was] more responsible for scoring points, especially when we think about the team championship.
"Even small points in the end can be big thing, so I'm happy with what I did.
"It was not easy, definitely. I really struggled for the rear in high speed understeer, but in the end, communicating with engineers to try to recover with the switches, I managed to bring it back home.
"I think we did even good step for the communication between my engineers and me."
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