WILL Stevens couldn’t hide his delight after finishing his first Formula One race for Manor in China yesterday.

After missing the first two Grand Prix of the season in Australia and Malaysia due to technical issues, the Rochford-born 23-year-old made it to the start line in Shanghai and then got his car home in 15th place.

Stevens, who attended Southend’s Thorpe Hall School, beat his team-mate Roberto Mehri by a place and improved on his 17th place finish with Caterham in Abu Dhabi last year, his only previous F1 start.

Stevens said: “A great race for me and the team and one which shows how far we’ve come in a very short space of time.

“Obviously it feels really good for me to be racing again and to finish the race with both cars is so important for us at this stage of our development.

“We always knew when we sorted out the challenges we’d have a reliable car. I didn’t get the best of starts but those sorts of issues are easily resolved and I’m sure we’ll see a lot more progress over the next few races.”

Stevens’ fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) won the race ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg