Lewis Hamilton says he is "proud" of himself and McLaren after a faultless afternoon saw him storm from 24th to eighth in Spain.
Starting at the very back of the field as a mistake from one his mechanics when fuelling his car ahead of his final flying lap in qualifying resulted in him being excluded from qualifying, McLaren opted to put Hamilton on a two-stop strategy.
And although this could have had disastrous consequences if his tyres had given up in the final stint, the 2008 World Champion put in a sublime performance, looking after the rubber while still slicing his way through the pack.
"I am proud of myself and the team," Hamilton told the BBC.
"We did a good job to come all the way from the back, we battled through and conserving the tyres was tough.
"Someone told me that I was only the person on a two stop, so I think that considering everyone keeps telling me that I am hard on tyres and how much smoother my team-mate is, I think that should show them.
"I just nursed them all the way through."
Hamilton also revealed that he drew on his childhood karting days for the mindset needed to fight his way through the field in light of his penalty.
"I just cleared my mind and got on with it from the back of the grid. It was like being back in the karting days.
"Sometimes I would turn up with my dad and that is something that we would have to do."
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