Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr. revelled in the best result of his Formula 1 career as he netted fourth position at a wet/dry Singapore Grand Prix.
Sainz Jr. made a sub-par getaway from the line but profited from the drama further up the grid to hold a place inside the top 10, and made further gains throughout the remainder of the 58-lap race.
Toro Rosso opted to place Sainz Jr. on the Supersoft tyres, as opposed to Ultrasofts, once the circuit dried, and he ultimately came home in fourth place.
“I lost a lot of positions,” Sainz Jr. said, referring to his start.
"[But] then the team told me even if I lost a lot of positions I was still P9, so from that point onwards it was head down, overtaking people on the Intermediates.
“Once I saw Lewis [Hamilton] was on the same strategy as me, I said, 'OK, we might have some good chances here', just doing a one-stop and going to the end.
“We chose exactly the right strategy again, like in China, and we made it to the end with not an easy last stint with the Super Softs, struggling a lot with grip, but managing to keep Checo [Pérez] behind."
Renault announced earlier in the weekend that Sainz Jr. will race for the team in 2018, while rumours persist that he could switch squads for the next round in Malaysia.
“I'm still not thinking it's going to be my last race," said Sainz Jr. on the situation.
“I told my team, my group of engineers, my mechanics, let's go for this weekend, let's do a perfect weekend, and not care about what happens next.
"They showed a big amount of support, telling me they were extremely happy for me, for my future.”
