Mat Coch writes:

"We don't make life easy for ourselves," laughed Daniel Ricciardo after qualifying.

Following opening practice the Australian was just eighteenth and struggling, so to put his Toro Rosso ninth on the grid came as a welcome relief. It is his second successive appearance in qualifying’s final phase and the seventh time he’s seen out the hour this season.

"This isn't a circuit we expected to be that strong at, so I’m happy with that," he smiled. "Hopefully we can put it in some good race pace tomorrow as well.

"We've made a good habit of it lately," he continued. "We always seem to be chasing, chasing but fortunately in qualifying we get it right.

"I wouldn't put it down to me taking time to get into the circuit or anything. I think we're always pretty eager to try things on the car and learn as much as we can and for that sometimes we pay a price and go the wrong way. To be honest it was one of the smoother weekends, believe it or not.

The fear for Ricciardo will be those drivers just behind who managed to save a set of supersoft tyres for the race as a single set of fresh Pirelli’s could prove decisive in the closing stages.

"That's something we decided to play for," he explained of his decision to set a time in the final phase of qualifying instead of conserving his rubber. "For me I think it's head down, hopefully get a good start and get away from the guys who will have that fresher rubber later in the race.

"If we can stay in the points I think that's what we've got to aim for," he added. "I don't expect it to be our easiest Sunday but at the same time we qualified in the top ten because we’ve got the pace, so if we can use it in the right way we should stay there."

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