The 34-year-old Australian achieved his best F1 result since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix for McLaren, gaining a place ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez at the first corner but then falling behind him five laps later shortly after a restart of the safety car.
After losing the DRS to Perez, Ricciardo came under relentless pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for the rest of the race, but he kept the Spaniard at bay to achieve his best result yet for the RB team.
“Every important result seems necessary,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1. “It’s a feeling of happiness, a powerful feeling. Also to back up the qualifications, it was obviously great but to back it up over the course of a sprint race is even more satisfying.
“So it feels good and it’s nice to shut a few people up too.”
When asked what made the difference in his form – his previous 2024 best being a 12th in Melbourne – eight-time Grand Prix winner Ricciardo pointed to two factors.
“We changed the chassis in China and immediately, honestly, I felt something,” he said. “I wanted more sensations, a little more confidence in what the car was going to give me.
Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“It’s not that it was far, but there was just something missing. Compared to Yuki [Tsunoda, his team-mate] At the start of the year I felt like I wasn’t able to do what he was able to do in most corners. I knew there was something there.
“I think there was definitely something wrong with the chassis. Maybe the team still doesn’t think so. But I do. And then we improved the floor here, and I think that helped us in a big way.
Speaking about Sainz’s pressure in the second half of the race, Ricciardo opted not to conserve his tires and risk losing race positions.
“I couldn’t breathe the whole race,” he joked. “I thought I would do my best to keep them behind, and if the tires fall off, then they will go.
“I felt like every round that I could defend, for me, it was like a pat on the back.
“So I said to myself, ‘Stop it, let’s go’. And if my tires fail, so be it. And they didn’t.
