Ricciardo had no doubts despite Verstappen pace

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Daniel Ricciardo says he never doubted himself before pulling out an impressive lap to take third on the grid at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen was quicker than his Red Bull team-mate throughout qualifying, with the gap 0.4s in Q2 and Ricciardo using an extra set of soft tyres to reach Q3. However, on his final lap Ricciardo delivered a clear improvement to take third and insists he was not concerned by the times Verstappen had been setting.

"Your mentality is you need to beat everyone so sure my Q2 definitely didn’t go as well as his," Ricciardo said. "His first lap was on the money, I didn’t feel we had to run again but obviously the team wanted to play it safe so we ran again and even the second lap in Q2 wasn’t great.

"So I knew there was more to come in Q3 but also I knew where the time was and putting it all together would give us a good time. The only disadvantage was heading into Q3 with only one set of tyres but I’ve been in that position before.

"Sure it creates a bit of excitement and Max had already set one time with a set. You look across at your team-mate but you also look across at the Ferraris and as I said to get in front of one would have been good but to get in front of both and Max as well it is a good day. I never doubted myself but I felt it pretty late."

And Ricciardo admits he was surprised the two Red Bulls could outqualify both Ferraris to secure third and fourth on the grid.

"It has been a bit different this weekend. Not so much from what I’ve been doing as my side of the garage hasn’t changed but there has been a bit more attention surrounding the team. I’ve got another guy opposite me who is doing very well.

"We’ve locked out the second row of the grid so I’m really happy to be here but for both of us to be in front of Ferrari on the second row. I thought maybe one of us could sneak in and a get a P4 and split the Ferraris but for both of us to be in front is really cool.

"We know from the start Max is quick and has shown that throughout as well as yesterday. It has been a good start to the year and a good start to this weekend."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.