The Australian finished in third place in second practice, behind his teammate Daniil Kvyat, as the Red Bull duo trailed the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

Although Ricciardo's day ended early due to an engine failure, which followed his comments on the frustrating Renault situation yesterday, the Red Bull driver was left upbeat about his prospects.

"I think it was a good day. One of out better Fridays," said Ricciardo. "We are looking more competitive. Generally I think it was a good day for both cars in the team.

"I hope we stay where we are. I expect Rosberg to be in front of us, but if we can be the second best team then it will be a really good day.

He added: "It would've been nice to finish the session. It was really good on high fuel, happy with the pace. We look to be right back on track."

Ricciardo's engine was an old unit and will not carry a penalty when he replaces it for tomorrow.

The Australian said today's showing was very pleasing regardless of what Mercedes does in tomorrow's qualifying.

"Let's see in qualifying tomorrow. Maybe they'll turn it up, but for today I think it's a good performance.

"We have a few updates here and we know this circuit suits our car more than most of the others.

"In saying that, we are still quite close to the Mercedes, but we'll see how they go tomorrow. Maybe they had a bit more fuel today. The long run was really good before the failure, so a good day."