Alguersuari surprised by Toro Rosso pace after charge to seventh

Jaime Alguersuari admitted he was surprised with the performance of his Toro Rosso car during the Italian Grand Prix after a superb charge from the back.

The Spanish driver had qualified in 18th position on Saturday but, as he had done often this year, charged into the points in the race, finishing in career-best seventh position.

Alguersuari joked that he would be looking to start from even further back in the next race.

"I am very happy with my race today," said Alguersuari. "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."

Team-mate Sebastien Buemi also finished in the points - in tenth - but was left disappointed after his car was damaged in the first-corner accident.

"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."