Romain Grosjean said it was "very positive" to return Haas to the points at the Russian Grand Prix after a weekend of struggling with tyres.
Grosjean and teammate Esteban Gutierrez had been lacking pace at the Sochi Autodrom but the Frenchman benefited from first-lap incidents and the subsequent safety car to finish eighth, holding off Force India's Sergio Perez at the end.
"It's great to be back in the points, especially after a very difficult weekend where we were never very happy with the car. It was a good first lap to avoid all the incidents, and then I kept Perez behind.