Happy Bourdais rues qualifying form

The Toro Rosso driver, put in a strong performance at the principality, driving into his second points finish of the season from 14th on the grid.

But the Frenchman remained critical of his qualifying performance, which he felt did not reflect his race pace.

"It feels good to score points here, at what can be considered my home grand prix as there is no French race," said Bourdais. "I felt that, again, I hadn't done a good job in qualifying, so, I can be happy to finish P8, given the small number of incidents today.

"It's another point which is important: it's not enough, but it's better than nothing!

Bourdais explained that the experience through free practice with the option tyres had paid dividends as he made steady progress through the field.

"The car performed consistently, especially on the prime tyre although the balance wasn't perfect," he said. "Then, on the options I tried to look after them as I'd had trouble with them on Thursday. I managed the situation, as the car was moving more and I had some degradation.

"Once I got ahead of my direct rivals and there was no one within reach in front of me, I settled into a rhythm, concentrating on bringing the car home.

"I had several tricky moments, but that's what street racing is about. It was a fun race, with the satisfaction of scoring a point starting 14th. If I can improve in qualifying in the coming races, then maybe we can hope for more, starting in Istanbul."

Team-mate Sebastien Buemi failed to capitalise on his top ten start after crashing in Nelson Piquet early in the race.

"I was right up behind Piquet, in his slipstream and when I tried to pull out and make my move he went on the brakes and I could not get out from behind him," he explained, "so I ended up pushing him all the way into the first corner.

"I am sorry about this and I went and apologised to him."