Renault have showed blistering pace at Monza so far, and it’s culminated in a P5 spot on the grid for Daniel Ricciardo. That left the Australian beaming in Italy after securing his best qualifying position since the Canadian Grand Prix.

To say Ricciardo’s fifth-place finish in Free Practice 3 on Saturday had been unexpected would be a slight understatement.

But Ricciardo also managed to convert that pace into fifth in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, representing his best-ever qualifying position at the circuit – and he said the pace had been easy to find as the car was transformed in its low-downforce configuration.

“I feel like after the break, maybe all the partying, all the drinking helped,” joked Ricciardo. “But in all seriousness, the car running on more low-downforce – what we ran in Spa, everything was [taken] off here pretty much... it just felt like the balance was there and we didn't really touch the car all weekend. Yeah, we have the engine upgrade that we are able to use this weekend and that's just fun, it's been really strong, straight-line speed is there.

“It hasn't really required too much work, too much head scratching, it's been pretty easy,” he concluded.