Daniel Ricciardo’s trademark broad smile was back with a vengeance in Canada, as he claimed fourth place on the grid with a stunning lap that will see him start Sunday’s race ahead of both Red Bulls and a Mercedes.

In his best qualifying effort of the year so far, Ricciardo’s Q3 lap saw him finish just 0.151s off Charles Leclerc’s P3 time in the rapid Ferrari, and ahead of both the Red Bull of Pierre Gasly and the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in fifth and sixth, as he netted his third Q3 appearance in as many Grands Prix.

“I never thought I’d be so happy for a fourth place in qualifying – it feels like a pole position!” said a delighted Ricciardo afterwards. “It was so cool when they told me over the radio I was fourth.

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“I’m really happy for the team today. This track is fun, I’ve always enjoyed it here. We seemed quick from the start of the day. Even yesterday we were fast, but we made further improvements and managed to put it all together for qualifying.

“It’s good, it’s really good. It shows that there is certainly something there [in the Renault package]. For sure with the car, it’s making progress, it is getting better – that’s shown in the past three weekends, but me personally as well, the more seat time I’m getting in it, the more I’m starting to get on top of it.”