Romain Grosjean says he was left hugely frustrated to only finish 11th at the Japanese Grand Prix following "one of the best drives" of his Formula One career.
Having started seventh, Grosjean -- on a two-stop strategy -- dropped to ninth on the first lap and narrowly missed out on recording Haas' first points finish since the Austrian Grand Prix in July, after he finished just behind the one-stopping Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas at Suzuka.
"I think I'm never been as frustrated as today in another race because I think we deserved much more," Grosjean said. "The pace of the car was much faster than the Williams, we just got the life on the hard tyre wrong and we could have pitted earlier on the last stint but the pace was amazing.
"We struggled in the first stint with the green track and the softs, there was a lot of graining. But then the car was flying. It was really good, I had some great overtaking. That's a lot of promise for the future, it's just so bloody annoying being that close and we couldn't do anything. Honestly that is one of the best drives of my career, which is for no point."
After both Grosjean and teammate Estaban Gutierrez made it through to Q3 for the first time in Haas' debut F1 season, Frenchman believes the team deserved better on Sunday, but insists there are plenty of positives to take forward heading into the American outfit's home grand prix at Austin in two weeks' time.
"I lost a bit of ground into Turn 1 with Hulkenberg just coming in front of me, I almost crashed into him, so that was very close. Just too much graining in the first stint so we need to work on that but there is a lot of optimism and positives from the way the car worked.
"We didn't deserve that -- it is was so frustrating. The car was so fast on the hard tyre, I was feeling confident, I was pushing, I was overtaking, I was having fun and just couldn't get the Williams. Such a great battle, so many positives from the race but it's so frustrating being that close. They were there."