Daniel Ricciardo hailed his fourth place in the Italian Grand Prix as ‘almost perfect’ he carved his way through the field from 16th on the grid.
Despite having prestigious pace and setting the third quickest time in the wet Saturday qualifying session, the Red Bull driver started near the back of the grid after taking an engine penalty.
Starting on soft compound tyre, with the majority of the pack starting on the supersoft, he stopped later in the race on the ‘alternative strategy’ which saw him rise through the order, pulling off some spectacular overtakes on Sergio Perez and Kimi Raikkonen in the process.
“I’m very, very happy about the result and loved it out there today,” said Ricciardo. “It was good fun. Two of my favourite races this year have been starting from the back. Silverstone and this one.”
Ricciardo finished just four seconds away from the podium as he chased down Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at the end of the race.
“Some good overtakes in the race kept me excited and I had some real pace in the end,” he added. “I could see Seb and the thought of a podium was tempting me, so I was obviously trying to catch him right up to the end.
“You can almost call it a perfect day. We couldn’t have done much more from where we started.
“Of course I wanted to be up there on the podium as it looked unreal, but I believe it will come next year. Today has been a really good boost for everyone and we’re looking ahead to Singapore.”
