Daniel Ricciardo says his top-ten performance in qualifying at Monza, that was achieved despite a McLaren car that was "a bit of a handful" in the session has rekindled his optimism.
The Australian driver clocked in P8 at the end of Saturday's shootout, just one spot behind McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
However, thanks to a collection of grid penalties applied to four drivers in front of him in qualifying, Ricciardo will launch his race from the second row in P4 alongside Norris.
"I’m happy with the session," Ricciardo told Formula1.com. "I think Q3, [the car] was a bit of a handful through the second sector, even the first actually.
"It wasn’t completely hooked up but to be honest, my lap in Q2 I was kind of on the limit with trying to get everything out of it.
"It’s obviously been hard for me to really feel comfortable on the limit with this car, and I was happy with Q2 to get me in Q3 and then trying to kind of get a couple more tenths out of it.
"I was pointing the opposite way I felt through some corners, so it is what it is but happy with the session."
The winner of last year's Italian Grand Prix admitted that he didn't anticipate making the Q3 cut in qualifying. But starting his race from the upper tier of the field has definitely boosted his spirits.
"I didn’t feel like I was so far a top 10 car so it was nice to put a few laps together in qualy, and I don’t know where I start, fourth or fifth tomorrow," he said.
"Yeah, I gained some [places] so I can see the polesitter, that’s a nice feeling.
"Been a while since I’ve been towards that end of the grid and nice to do it back here of course where last year was some good memories, so who knows? I’m refilled with optimism."
On the other side of the McLaren garage, Norris reckoned that the papaya squad had extracted the most from its MCL36 in the Q3 shootout.
"I think it was the best we could have achieved," said the Briton.
"We were so close to being ahead of the Mercedes but to not be far behind is also a very good achievement.
"A few people have grid penalties tomorrow, so that gives us a better position. Hopefully we can take advantage of that, have a clean race and get some good points."
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