Daniel Ricciardo has recovered from a disappointing Friday showing at the Brazilian Grand Prix to finish ninth in the Sprint Race on Saturday.
After securing his first points since his return to F1 last week in Mexico, Ricciardo could only manage 17th place in qualification for the feature race on Sunday.
The Australian turned his fortunes around in Sprint Shootout, recording the eighth-best time and managing to hang around that spot for the majority of the race.
Riccardo’s race was defined by a three-way battle for the final spot in the points with Carlos Sainz and fellow Australian Oscar Piastri.
Despite managing to get past the Spaniard on two different occasions, Riccardo was unable to sustain the pace to keep ahead of him and was forced to settle with ninth.
“On one hand, it was nice to be in a battle and certainly wasn’t a boring race, so part of my fun box is fulfilled, but my frustration box is also very full,” Ricciardo told media post-race.
“We obviously had pace for points but every time I passed Carlos, I then gave him the DRS for turn two, and beyond that. I passed him, I got it done, and then I’d just wave him by with the DRS open.
“I’ll see if strategically I can make better moves tomorrow (for the grand prix) but if I just sat behind him, I was never going to pass.
“I had to make it work but I kind of hoped he would make a mistake in two and just not pass me, but he did. I tried, and then frustrated with myself into Turn 8, leaving the door open for Oscar.
“It was frustrating because I was in the middle, I was trying to attack Carlos but then trying to watch Oscar, and I just left too much of a gap for him, so I lost a few laps behind him.
“I got him back, and then in some free air with a couple of laps to go, we were able to get the pace back, and I caught Carlos, but over the line, we were one lap too short, and Lewis was there as well.
“So, what could have been, but anyway, I don’t want to be that guy.”
Riccardo will be up against it if he is to finish in the points for the feature race of the Brazilian Grand Prix, starting at 4 am AEDT on Monday morning.