Oscar Piastri has admitted his surprise at how he has been able to compete at the very front of the grid during his first year in Formula 1, something that he labelled as a 'privilege'.
This was a dramatic improvement from the team's early season form that saw them languishing at the back of the pack.
Oscar Piastri celebrates on the podium alongside Max Verstappen and Lando Norris after the Qatar Grand PrixThe 22-year-old had plenty to smile about after a superb rookie F1 season
And the young Australian has now admitted that the highs and lows of the season were more of a shock than he was expecting.
"It's definitely been a bigger rollercoaster than I expected," he said. "I knew there would be ups and downs, maybe not as down at the start or as up at the end.
"But I've really learned a lot. I feel like I've had basically every situation you could have, apart from a championship fight.
"So it's been a good year in terms of learning, I think as a team, where we're learning how to compete at the front again, which is exciting.
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"It's not a position we've been in for 10 years. So nice to be having these conversations again, going through these scenarios.
"And for me, it's really a privilege to be fighting at the front so early in my career. There are people that go their whole F1 career that don't have the opportunity that I've had in 22 races.
"So I'm very, very grateful for that. And I'm looking forward to plenty more years to come where hopefully we can do that more often."