Daniel Ricciardo’s Australian Formula One debut was as mystifying for him as it was for those watching.
But one thing is certain – he emulated countryman Mark Webber by finishing in the points in his first home race.
Ricciardo recovered from a first-corner tangle, which forced him to pit and rejoin in last place, to finish ninth.
When Pastor Maldonado lost his Williams in grass and crashed into a wall and Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi collided, the door opened for Ricciardo.
The 22-year-old West Australian managed to leapfrog Toro Rosso teammate Jean-Eric Vergne in a quick last-lap manoeuvre after fighting his way back up the field.
“I don’t really know how that happened on the last lap,” Ricciardo said.
“I saw blue flags and a lot of cars in front and I was sure I could make up at least one place because it was chaos.
“I was a bit lucky to be the last one in that group because I could have a clear picture of the other cars going off in front.
“Then I had a chance to attack Jean-Eric. He defended into Turn 13 and I thought I could make the switch back and I did, which put me in P9.”
Ricciardo said he was able to make the most of a frenetic close to the race to head into next weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix full of confidence.
“The last few laps were crazy and I was pushing like hell,” he said.
“At the start, I got caught up in the accident and, at the moment, I don’t understand how it happened or who was to blame.
“I made a decent start, I moved to the outside but there were too many of us there.
“I hit the left front quite hard against a Williams and had to come in to change the nose. I had to race with a bit of damage after that.”
Ricciardo said he could have finished even higher had he not been caught up in the crash shortly after the start.
“It’s good to finish ninth, but I think I could have done better because the car was very strong, given how fast it was, even with the damage I had to carry through the whole race.”
He said he was fighting his car throughout the race with the Toro Rosso pulling to one side after being hit.
“It was not easy to come back, but I never gave up, pushing all the time,” he said.
“I’m extremely happy and it’s great to score my first F1 points here at home in Australia, where the crowd has been just fantastic all weekend long,” he said.
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