Vandoorne outpaced his two-time world champion teammate Fernando Alonso on Saturday, and delivered his second seventh-place finish on the trot in the race.

“I can definitely say that, for me, that was my best drive in Formula 1 until now,” said Vandoorne.

“To finish seventh on the circuit like this, and being very quick all weekend, to qualify seventh, we thought it was going to be very difficult today, and we had a fantastic race.

“I got a great, great start – and then we knew it was going to be difficult to keep the Force Indias and Williamses behind, but only [Sergio] Perez came through. We pushed like crazy, lap after lap, trying to manage the fuel and tyres at the same time.

“Tough conditions out there, but we managed the gap with Lance very well, so extremely satisfied with seventh.”

On the subject of his intra-team 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.”

Downbeat Alonso rues first-lap clash

Teammate 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 2 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.”