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McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne says his seventh position in the Malaysian Grand Prix was his "best drive in Formula 1".

Vandoorne outpaced his two-time world champion team-mate Fernando Alonso in qualifying on Saturday, and claimed his second seventh-place finish in a row.

"Very very happy today, this definitely was my best drive in Formula 1 up until now," said Vandoorne.

"To finish seventh here, qualify seventh as well - just an extremely solid race.

"I had to push every lap, take care of the tyres, and bring the car home.

"Tough conditions out there, but we managed the gap with Lance [Stroll] very well, so extremely satisfied with seventh."

On the subject of his battle with Alonso, Vandoorne says he's finally being able to show his best work as McLaren improves its form.

"The last races have been very, very good as well for me," he said.

"I'm definitely working hard with the team, putting the pressure on [Alonso], and it's good for the team spirit.

"This weekend shows that when everything falls more or less together, when we extract the most out of the car, great things are possible.

"Lately, even when things don't go 100% right, I'm still able to recover much better.

"All the effort I've been putting in is paying off massively."

Alonso finished outside of the points in 11th, and rued a delay on the opening lap when Esteban Ocon collided with Felipe Massa in a three-wide moment that included the second Williams of Lance Stroll.

"We've had better days, definitely," said Alonso. "It was a shame at corner two that the Williamses were in front of us and touched each other and we lost a few places there.

"Then we were always in the secondary group, always slower than our true pace, but we could not overtake.

"Hopefully in Japan we come back in a stronger form."