Carlos Sainz Jr's Renault F1 debut 'remarkable' at US Grand Prix

Sainz joined Renault for the final four races of the season, having originally been due to switch from Toro Rosso on loan from Red Bull over the winter.

He looked quick from the first practice session at Austin, qualifying eighth and finishing seventh as team-mate Nico Hulkenberg retired with a technical problem.

"He did a remarkable job," Abiteboul told Autosport. "It's not easy to change teams in the middle of a season.

"There have been previous circumstances when things have not happened that way in other teams in the history of F1.

"It's a move that we were all looking forward to.

"There was lots of preparation put into that. it's not easy with a busy weekend between Suzuka and this race.

"A lot has happened to get everything ready and that is to the credit of him first but also to the team that has done such a good job together."

Sainz's six points helped Renault close to within five of his former team Toro Rosso in the constructors' standings while opening up an advantage by the same margin over Haas in eighth.

The Spaniard looked to have a pace advantage over Esteban Ocon, but was told to back off the attack for sixth to make sure he had enough fuel to make the end of the race.

"It was very close to perfect," Sainz told Autosport of his weekend.

"The first lap I wanted to take it easy to make sure I did the full race distance. I didn't want to do any crazy stuff.

"From there, we just picked up pace and started attacking the Force Indias.

"I passed one of them and then started attacking Esteban the team told me to stop and bring it home because we were really tight on the fuel.

"It has been a great weekend. Thanks to the whole team for making me feel so at home right from the beginning. Let's keep going like that."