Jean-Eric Vergne scores his first World Championship points

French Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne has scored his first ever World Championship points after finishing 8th an intense Malaysian Grand Prix. The rookie qualified a dismal 18th for the race, yet managed to wade his way through the pack as the rain created a topsy-turvy finishing order.

Last time out in Australia, Vergne narrowly missed out on points after finishing the race 11th, loosing out to Paul di Resta on the final lap of the race. However, he put that difficult last lap in Australia behind him and scored his first World Championship points of his career earlier today.

“To [go] from eighteenth on the grid to eighth and in the points at the end is great.” Explained a jubilant Jean-Eric Vergne, “I stayed out for a long time on the intermediates after the start and then the red flag came along to help me so I was able to switch to extreme wets on the grid. After these two opening races, the overall performance has been quite good and I feel we can make progress in China starting from this good base line.”

Jean-Eric Vergne’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished the race 12th overall, just missing out on a points finish. However, Toro Rosso head into the three week gap between Malaysia and China with 6 World Championship on the table. The team are now confident on continuing their midfield battle come the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai.

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