Chandhok drove the first lap with maturity and picked his gaps in the chaos to move up seven places in the opening lap.

The Chennai-born Chandhok had a problem with the accelerator getting stuck right from the start.

'It was really very difficult to drive because at every corner even when I'd lift off the throttle to brake, the car would still be pushing forward. I actually thought about retiring early on but after we got up to 12th, I thought I'd keep battling to try and get a point,' he said.

'It really isn't a pleasant feeling going into corners which have walls close by on a street circuit with the throttle sticking open!'

Chandhok then passed Dani Clos to move further up to 12th before he passed Javier Villa and David Rigon to move up to seventh. He finally got into the points when Eduoardo Mortara was given a drive through penalty for an earlier incident.

'This is probably one of the hardest races I have driven but it was fun. Starting 20th, we knew we needed something special to finish in the points. Overtaking in Valencia is almost impossible, but I was so pumped up that I took my chances and it paid off in the end.'

'Without the throttle problem, I really think we could have got a couple more places,' Chandhok said