Carlos Sainz said his drive to seventh in China proved to Toro Rosso he was not "mad" or "stupid" after deciding to start the race on dry tyres.

Out of 20 drivers on the grid Sainz, starting 11th, was the only one not to take the green-striped intermediate tyre at the beginning, opting instead for the super-soft. Though the track was drying, it did not appear ready for slick tyres and Sainz soon spun as he tip-toed through the opening sequence of corners, but the Spaniard soon jumped up the order as an early Virtual Safety Car period prompted a flurry of stops from cars ahead.

Sainz pushed hard for the tyre gamble on the grid but admits he even had doubts when he saw everyone else around him had chosen the sensible option.

"Honestly at the beginning, when I saw everyone on inters, I thought it was the wrong decision, but in those moments, you have to trust yourself," he said after the race. "You should have seen the faces of my engineers, of [team boss] Franz [Tost], of Helmut Marko when I told them I wanted to go on the super-softs.

"It is quite funny now, but in the moment I was not so convinced. I trusted myself, I knew the first four corners were going to be very tough, but that from Turn 6 onwards it was dry and it was going to come back to me. Suddenly I rejoined the pack after Turn 9 and I said 'OK, I'm not so stupid anymore!' Everyone started to pit and I was there in P4 or P5. I think it was worth the risk."

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Sainz says the team agreed with his call when he pitched it before the race, but he could tell they were questioning the logic of it from the beginning.

"The good thing is that I didn't need to argue. I told [Franz] I'm convinced, I want the super-soft, I think it will pay off. Let's play the long game. They looked at me like I was totally mad, but it was worth it.

"When everyone started to pit at the end of lap two with the Safety Car, I said now I've taken the right decision, and I was so happy. But again the race was not won in our way, only there it was also on the pace on the super-soft catching the Red Bull and Ferrari in damp conditions."

Sainz tweeted about it after the race to reference the result, which matches the position he now sits in the championship.