Ricciardo “pumped” with second-row spot after poor practice

Ricciardo qualified fourth, just 0.047s behind teammate Max Verstappen but with over a tenth to spare over both Ferraris.

“For the team, we’re pretty pumped to lock out the second row,” said Ricciardo.

“It was quite an exciting session actually. It was always really close between us and Ferrari, and after yesterday I didn’t really expect that we’d both be in front of them.

“Obviously it’s less than half a tenth off for P3 with Max, but the lap was pretty good and I don’t feel like I left a lot out on the track.

“I’m happy, we’ve come a long way since yesterday. I wasn’t particularly pleased or comfortable with what I had. So to come fourth today it’s not bad. Whenever you’re close, like I am to Max, you always wish you could be in front, but I’m not really disappointed, it was a good day for us.”

Ricciardo echoed team chief Christian Horner’s thoughts, and believes Red Bull can again contend for the podium – after coming close to victory last time out in Singapore.

“Max was strong yesterday,” he said of his team’s strong Friday runs. “We made pretty big changes overnight and I’m happy today.

“I expect to be on that level tomorrow, I think we can have a good race. Ferrari are normally pretty good on their tyres here, so I think we’ll have a race on our hands.”