Carlos Sainz has described his last lap battle with Nico Hulkenberg to claim an important final point as "like a world championship" battle.
The McLaren driver was tied on points with Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly heading into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, however with Gasly's second-place finish in Brazil, he would have been classified sixth and Sainz seventh in the all-important fight to be 'best of the rest'.
But with Gasly well outside the points in the closing laps of the race and Sainz in 11th, just one place shy of taking the final points paying position, the opportunity to secure sixth was there and Sainz dived down the inside of Hulkenberg on the final lap to take it.
"It was the most exciting final lap I think," said the Spaniard. "It was like a world championship for me.
"I got close enough to Nico to throw a move into Turn 9, and decided to back out of it and try it in 11, but I didn’t get the run out of 10 that I wanted, so it meant I arrived too late and a bit far behind," Sainz said explaining the pass.
"I saw a gap on the inside, but it was really small, a bit like with [Sergio] Perez, so I said OK, if it worked with Perez, I need to try to make it work with Nico. I threw the move and made it stick.
"It’s crazy, at the end of the championship, we were fighting on the last lap, in the last overtaking opportunity of the track. I made it stick. It hasn’t been an easy race, but I’m very happy with it."
When asked if he knew what was on the line, he replied: "Yes. I made sure I was aware of it. I knew. Well I could follow on the TV also. I knew Gasly was pretty much out of the race."
