Albon's best race yet as he comes home fifth in Mexico

Avoiding the melee at the start, which saw Red Bull Racing team-mate Max Verstappen and championship leader Lewis Hamilton go off track on the opening lap, Albon was running third and within touching distance of the leading Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel.

Pitting early, Albon dropped down the field to fifth as the likes of Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas ran longer. But stuck behind McLaren's Carlos Sainz, Albon lost time when he came out of the pits, meaning the best he could hope for was fifth.

However, the Anglo-Thai driver felt his performance was one of the best of his career, especially after a heavy crash on Friday.

"I think it was one of my best races in terms of pace and the guys in front weren’t too far ahead!" he said. "At the start we were running third and I was getting quite excited. It was great to be fighting at the front but unfortunately, their one-stop strategy worked out better.

"I lost quite a lot of time getting through traffic, especially after my first pit stop when I came out behind Sainz but there’s quite a high chance of getting traffic at this circuit. The boys also got the fastest pit stop of the race, so I obviously hit my marks! They have had a busy weekend so that was a great job and I’ll have to repay them.

"Overall, I’m happy with my performance and I’m improving my consistency which is important. The lap times are coming and now I’ve got three more races to improve even further!"