Ricciardo, who is seven points ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in fourth place in the F1 drivers’ standings, outqualified the Finn in the dying seconds on Saturday. He will start the race fourth, alongside Sebastian Vettel on row two.

“I was happy with that,” said Ricciardo. “I thought we had the pace [for the second row] and I would have been disappointed if we couldn’t show it. I really thought if I put a good lap together we could sneak ahead of at least one Ferrari.

“Seb had a bit too much, but I was happy to get Kimi. Nice way to close out the year, hasn’t been the perfect year in terms of qualifying, in terms of what I expect from myself, but it was nice to finish with a good lap.”

Ricciardo admitted that Red Bull’s race simulations weren’t as strong as his immediate rivals', but believes a podium finish is a realistic target given his track position at the start.

“It's certainly an opportunity, we’re close,” he added. “All I need is a good start and then we're there.

“Yesterday our long runs weren’t as good as Mercedes or Ferrari, we’re certainly a few tenths off, but we made a few little changes overnight which I think helped.

"As the track improves, by tomorrow it should come to us. I’m certainly keen to get my elbows out and try to fight for the podium.”

Struggling Verstappen lacking balance

In contrast, teammate Max Verstappen rued a lack of pace which restricted him to qualifying sixth, over a second off pole position.

“We just clearly didn’t have the pace, for me it was a really difficult qualifying,” said Verstappen.

“Straight away when I went out I didn’t have a good balance in the car. Tried to make the best of it, but it clearly wasn’t enough.

“When you are chasing the car balance all the time you never really have a comfortable feeling, which was our problem today. For sure, it won’t be an easy race.”