Paul Di Resta was delighted to have silenced the "alarm bells" that threatened to wreck his qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.
A fortnight ago in Italy, Di Resta qualified a career-best fourth only to incur a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change that relegated him to ninth.
Proving that was no fluke, the 26-year-old Scot will start Sunday's race a career-high equalling sixth on the grid in his Force India, a feat previously achieved in last year's British Grand Prix.
However, Di Resta has admitted to being concerned following final practice as he found himself off the pace, in particular compared to team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.
"Alarm bells were ringing a little this morning in FP3 because we had quite a good car yesterday, but then struggled quite badly in that session," said Di Resta.
"In all three runs I was the best part of a second off Nico, so it was clear something wasn't right and we hadn't changed things much.
"So we went back to a baseline for qualifying and that dramatically improved things and put us a step in front again.
"Yesterday we were close, and in qualifying we were able to regain our confidence, work away and improve each time we were on track.
"I saved the best lap to the end, which was good, and I always found little bits as the track improved."
Di Resta is at least in a solid position on a street track where overtaking is possible, but not easy.
However, as the race lasts close to the two hours, providing there is no safety car, Di Resta appreciates a monumental effort is still required for him to finish in the points.
Di Resta added: "Anything can happen, but we have put ourselves in a good position to score points.
"Having gone from a medium-downforce track (Spa) to a low-downforce track (Monza) to a high-downforce track (Singapore), we've been there at all three.
"We're still a long way off pole and from making a difference, but with a long race tomorrow, two hours of concentration, hopefully we can certainly make a difference in the race."
