Ricciardo: Renault needed a result like this after last weekend

Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo believes the French team needed a result like himself and team-mate Nico Hulkenberg starting seventh and eighth on the grid for tomorrow's race.

Ricciardo and Hulkenberg both failed to make it into Q3 in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, and a disastrous race for Renault meant that both of its drivers had to retire early with technical problems.

But this time around, the Aussie managed to qualify in seventh-place after a promising qualifying session for the French-works team, that also saw the German Hulkenberg record the eighth quickest lap-time.

"I'm not sad, that's for sure," Ricciardo explained to Ziggo Sport. "So far this season, we knew we were capable of it. But it's just so close. Even for me, getting into Q3, it was by just a few hundreths of a second.

"I think it was Kimi (Raikkonen) who just missed out. To just get in, and then to get the seventh. It was really cool. It's great for the team. We needed a result like this after last weekend."

Last season for Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo pulled a surprise victory out of the bag, like he so often does in the more manic races. The Aussie joked about winning this season's, but became a bit more serious the more he spoke about the idea.

"I started sixth last season, so maybe second," Ricciardo slightly joked. "Second, nah - first. We'll see. A win with all the cars in front us of us. Perhaps it's not possible. I hate saying 'no', but everyone in F1 knows that's a reality.

"Last season was a crazy race. Everyone knows, whenever a crazy race happens - I'm always the one who captures a crazy race!"