Ricciardo realistic: "I drove my perfect lap too soon"

Daniel Ricciardo seems to have a good feeling about Renault. The Australian was already very strong in Mugello and in Sochi he was very strong again. He showed that by setting the fastest time of anyone in Q2 and eventually qualifying in fifth place for the Russian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo tells Motorsport.com that he is satisfied with his performance. "At the beginning of the weekend I was still curious how fast we were going, because last year we were not strong here. Maybe that's why I knew I had a lot of work to do. Things went very well today, especially in Q2," Ricciardo explains.

In Q2 the Renault driver managed to set the fastest time, but in Q3 he was unable to go any faster. "To be honest, the lap in Q2 was the perfect lap. Everything just fell into place there. I couldn't repeat that lap in Q3. But I certainly can't complain about fifth place on the grid either," Ricciardo said.

Fifth spot is a good starting position, also because the slipstream is going to be important towards turn two. "I expect to overtake people at the start. I saw in the F2 that the odd side of the grid is better off, so that's promising," Ricciardo concluded.