- Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying
Podium unlikely with penalty - Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo admits his impending grid penalty means he is pessimistic about his chances of making the podium in Bahrain.
Ricciardo outqualified Sebastian Vettel for the second time in three races on the track, finishing third, but will finish behind his team-mate after earning a 10-place grid penalty in Malaysia after an unsafe release from a pit stop. Fighting through the field with Vettel will prove tricky with a cluster of Mercedes-powered cars in front of him but Ricciardo insists he is determined to bounce back from two races tarnished by penalties.
"I'd love to charge through and have a podium after 57 or so laps, but I think we have to get some points to start with," Ricciardo said. "My season is going well but I don't have any points to show for it, so I think that's the first target. Having said that, I don't think we need to be conservative, we need to push . We are obviously out of position starting 13th so I'll do what I can and if there's an opportunity to move forward I'll take it. Hopefully we'll end up with some points on the board."
Ricciardo was nearly a second off Rosberg's pole time but he is adamant third is a sign Red Bull is moving in the right direction.
"I'm really pleased with the performance and it's the best anyone else can do aside from the two guys alongside me [Rosberg and Hamilton]. We've still got some ground to make on them but I was really pleased with qualifying tonight. It's been really tricky with the temperature dropping for these evening sessions and in FP3 we were a long way off the pace before we turned it around this evening."
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