Daniel Ricciardo knows how to hustle an F1 car around Monaco – he was on pole here last year with Red Bull.

He was never going to match that with Renault on Saturday, but gambling on some late car alterations did take him to a seventh place he was proud of – and one which matched his best Renault qualifying to date.

Ricciardo had been less than content with his R.S.19 after Thursday’s practice sessions, but today he found the pace that team mate Nico Hulkenberg had predicted was still in the car here.

“I am happy,” declared the Australian, who will move up to P6 on the grid thanks to a grid penalty for Pierre Gasly. “A bit like Barcelona - like all year - I believed that if we nailed it with this car, we are a Q3 car - but it’s not always easy to nail.

“On Thursday, I knew with the package we had it was not really possible, but I knew there were some improvements to make with the balance – and still with myself.

“We did make a step this morning, but still not enough, so we made some brave changes in quali and sent it. And, yeah, I’m relatively happy with seventh!”