Daniel Ricciardo admits he is surprised to qualify in second place for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver pulled out an impressive final lap in Q3 to beat the two Ferrari drivers to the front row, ending up half a second slower than Nico Rosberg. It is the first time Ricciardo has qualified on the front row since last year's Singapore Grand Prix and he admits the result is an unexpected one.
Asked where his lap came from, Ricciardo replied: "Not sure!
"To be honest qualifying I didn’t think we started in the best position. In Q1 obviously it was a disrupted session but also the balance it didn’t seem like we were really going to be in a fight with the front few rows today. In Q3 we just found a bit more speed.
"The supersoft is a tricky tyre to manage, to get the one lap out of it is not exactly easy. It gets chewed up quite a bit as the lap goes on, so I think just understanding that as the session goes on. Obviously between me understanding a bit more what to do on track and the engineer making a few adjustments with pressures and the front wing, I think we got a good package at the end.
"Second is pretty awesome, I didn’t expect this.”
REPORT: Rosberg beats Ricciardo to pole as Hamilton falls in Q1
AS IT HAPPENED: Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying
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