Kevin Magnussen admits Renault's first points of 2016 were "quite lucky" but does not think that should take away from his seventh-place finish in China.
Magnussen was one of the benefactors of the first lap incidents, when Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez came to blows at Turn 2 and Daniil Kvyat drove into Sebastian Vettel at the next corner. An early safety car and damage to both Red Bull's helped mix up the midfield and Magnussen was up from 17th to 10th on lap one.
The Dane says Renault's strategy from that point was crucial in keeping him ahead of Romain Grosjean's Haas and the Red Bull of Daniel Riccardo.
"We were quite lucky with a lot of people not finishing and crashing out," Magnussen said. "But all in all we did a really good job today, with a perfect pit stop, and got past Ricciardo and Grosjean with the strategy."
Magnussen thinks the team still has a lot of work to do on the car, especially in utilising its performance over one lap.
"[Saturday] wasn't perfect, but it's more a function of our understanding of the tyres than the car itself. In the race, with the high fuel it's generally easier to keep the tyres alive. That shows where our car is and it's a bit better than in qualifying.
"We will focus on qualifying and improve in the future but right now this is what we have and P7 today is satisfying. Hopefully this is just the beginning of what we'll see in the rest of the season."