• Italian Grand Prix

Alguersuari surprised by Toro Rosso's race pace

Jaime Alguersuari scored the best result of his career at Monza © Getty Images

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• Race:
• Italian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jaime Alguersuari
• |
• Sébastien Buemi

• Teams:
• Toro Rosso

Jaime Alguersuari said he was as surprised as anybody by his seventh place finish at the Italian Grand Prix after he started 18th on the grid.

It was the best result of his short career and was mainly thanks to a good start that saw him make up seven positions as many of his rivals dropped back or out of the race. However, the Toro Rosso had genuine pace in the race and he surged through the field on a two-stop strategy to finish in the points for the fifth time this season.

"I am very happy with my race today," he said. "I think I would like to start even further back on the grid for the next one, because it seems that whenever I have a poor grid position, I finish in the points! I am also very pleased for the team, as they got both cars home in the points.

"I am a bit surprised at the way the car performance came good on Sunday in the race, because I did not expect to be quicker than Force India and Sauber. Getting this great result at our home race, also makes it extra special. We need to keep on working like this and try and improve our qualifying performance on Saturday. If we do that, I think we can finish in the points on a regular basis."

His team-mate Sebastien Buemi finished tenth but sustained damage in the first corner pile-up.

"I am bit disappointed with the way the race panned out," Buemi said. "I made a very good start, but then when an HRT triggered a big accident, I took a knock at the back of my car and it was definitely damaged in some way, as it did not work at its maximum potential from then on. If that had not happened, maybe I could have finished ninth or eighth. But while tenth is therefore a bit disappointing, losing out to Senna right at the end, when he was on the Soft tyre and I was on the Medium, it's time to look ahead and think about doing better in two weeks time in Singapore."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.