Daniel Ricciardo advanced to the top four in Sprint Qualifying in Miami, his greatest grid position of the season.

After struggling during the first several races of the 2024 Formula One season, Daniel Ricciardo’s recovery continued with a strong performance in Miami, where he qualified fourth for the Sprint.

Daniel Ricciardo advances to fourth in SQ3 after finishing fifth in SQ2.

Yuki Tsunoda’s exit from qualifying during the second portion of the session contrasted sharply with Daniel Ricciardo’s performance, in which the Australian produced the fifth-fastest time of the session to finish in the top ten.

Surprisingly, Ricciardo went one better in SQ3 to finish fourth fastest, beating both Aston Martins, improved McLarens, and even Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Ricciardo, who has been relatively inconspicuous this season and is one of seven drivers who have yet to score a point, will break his duck if he finishes in the top eight in the Sprint Race.

“I’ve been able to do it before, so I know it’s in me,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1 as he beamed his famous grin following Sprint Qualifying.

“Did I expect to do a second-row start? Probably not that good! I felt really good in Q2 and I knew that lap would be good enough for Q3.

“I think, at that point, we were P5 and in my head, I was like ‘Ah, P5 would be really nice for Q3.’

“Then we got P4 and it was wild, because the laps were good but it’s hard to be really clean around here.

“It’s just a tricky track. That middle sector, jumping across the chicane… It’s hard to get it right.”

Ricciardo’s resurgence has coincided with RB giving him a new chassis at the Chinese Grand Prix, due to a niggling worry that something may have been off about the chassis he used for the opening handful of races.

The team also introduced a new floor body and diffuser in Miami, and Ricciardo said everything seems to now be going in the right direction.

“The team has been bringing updates the last few races,” he said.

“Obviously, I had the chassis change last race in China and we had a new floor here, so things definitely look like it’s turning around.”

From his fourth-place grid slot, can Ricciardo even dream of a podium?

“Certainly. I can dream of everything!” he laughed.

“Look, it’s just nice starting towards the front, even from the point of view of just kind of being out of that mid-pack, there’s normally a bit of chaos.

“So, hopefully, you kind of go with the leaders at the beginning. Obviously, it’s a short race so, hopefully, just get kind of through enough of it with them in the first few laps and deal with a good bag of points.”