Alexander Albon reckons Toro Rosso are in a much stronger position than their points tally suggests and believes they should have been in Q3 at all three opening races of the 2019 Formula 1 season.
Toro Rosso are currently ninth in the Constructors' Standings with four points to their name, but Albon, who has scored three of those points, reckons the team are capable of much more with the current car.
"We've scored three points in three races. Looking at the championship position we look quite low down, but I think we aren't as bad as the table suggests. We've been consistent through the first three races. We just need to qualify a little bit higher.
"I think it's just trying to fine-tune and get rid of the little mistakes, either driver-related or set-up. [We] just need to get everything hooked up a little bit better I think.
"That's three races we've done now where we should've been in Q3 three times. I think everyone can say that probably in the midfield, but I do think we really should've been in Q3 three times and of course when you're in the front half of the field, it makes the races a lot easier."
Albon has been the team's highest qualifier this season with 13th in Australia and 12th in Bahrain, but he crashed heavily during practice in China and was forced to start from the pitlane. Despite that, he went on to finish tenth in the race and labelled it as his best performance in F1 so far and reckons it's proof of their pace.
"I was really happy with it, to be honest. Coming from FP3 it felt like I needed to do something to try to just show the speed, because we did have a lot of pace in FP2. Even in FP3 before the crash we were looking very strong, so when I crashed I wasn't, let's say, disappointed with the crash; it was more like I felt we missed an opportunity more than anything.
"So coming into Sunday I felt like we deserved points. That was the aim. Obviously we knew it was going to be a difficult race to get points, but the team did a great job with strategy and the car as well to get that point."
