Nico Hulkenberg says the "mega" lap which put him fifth on the grid for the Mexican Grand Prix saw him extract the maximum from the car.
Hulkenberg looked strong during FP2 on Friday and built on that in qualifying, splitting Red Bull and Ferrari for a place on the third row on the grid.
"My first lap in Q3 was quite mega, I don't think there was anything more I could squeeze out of there," he said. "All in all, just a really good qualifying."
The German driver, who had only been ninth in FP3 on Saturday morning, says his car found pace as the day progressed.
"I think the car just got better and better through qualifying, with the track gripping up," he said. "It's not a low downforce track but due to the high altitude it's quite low downforce, track evolution seemed to help the car and pick up the balance and the pace for us. Perhaps we did a good job as well understanding the tyres, getting them into the sweet spot."
Hulkenberg has been involved in incidents at the start in Singapore and the U.S. recently, but he is not daunted by a similar fate on Sunday in Mexico.
"You've always got to be careful at the start. Every start has a different dynamic so you have to play it by ear, see where the gap is. I think last weekend wasn't great, but it wasn't my mistake. I think it should be fine tomorrow.
"We had [the long straight to Turn 1] last year though and everyone survived! So not too concerned."