F1: The 5 drivers who improved their form at the 2018 Japanese GP

#2 Carlos Sainz Jr.

F1 Grand Prix of Japan - where Sainz was quick

When Renault's Carlos Sainz Jr. made a bold move in the ending stages over the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, he reiterated why he's so highly rated.

In bagging a fighting tenth, and thus earning the only points for his Renault, at the wake of Hulkenberg's retirement due to a mechanical dysfunction, the Spaniard gained his best-ever finish at Japan starting 2016.

Back in 2016, he finished fifteenth in his Toro Rosso, before retiring in the event the following year due to an accident in 2017.