Brendon Hartley has ended his first year in Formula One with a sound 15th place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Having failed to finish the two previous races in Mexico and Brazil, Hartley drove impressively after struggling in qualifying and starting at the back of the 20-car grid.
It is the New Zealand driver’s second completed race after joining Toro Rosso near the tail-end of the season.
He was 13th in his debut drive at the United States Grand Prix before engine problems at the next two events.
Sunday’s drive left him one place off French team-mate Pierre Gasly, with whom Hartley will contest the entire 2018 championship.
Their combined efforts weren’t enough to keep Toro Rosso sixth overall in the team standings and they dropped one place.
They were some distance behind winners Mercedes, who dominated in Abu Dhabi, with Valtteri Bottas of Finland holding off team-mate and championship winner Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain at the Yas Marina Circuit.
German Sebastian Vettel placed third, which was enough to keep him second overall in the standings, just ahead of Bottas.
Hartley climbed steadily in the early part of the race, reaching as high as 14th as rivals either struck problems or pitted.
He engaged in a duel for 13th to 15th over the second half, eventually finishing behind Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein.
-AAP