"At the start of the race we have a real opportunity"
Saturday 29 August 2020 17:57, UK
Daniel Ricciardo acclaimed his fourth-placed finish as an "awesome result" after finishing on the second row in Belgium GP qualifying.
Renault stood out among the pack chasing Mercedes, with a low-downforce package helping Ricciardo and team-mate Esteban Ocon, who finished sixth, dominate in terms of straight-line speed.
The Australian was in typically jovial mood reviewing the session, and revealed his plan to get ahead of his rivals early on.
"Obviously holding third would have been perfect but I'm really happy with qualifying, I've been happy all weekend," he told Sky F1.
"Last year these low-downforce tracks were our strong ones - Spa, Monza - and we've replicated that this year.
"If it rains, it rains, but I'm hoping for a dry one as we've got good track position and pretty good straight-line speed.
"At the start of the race we have a real opportunity and then I think I can defend for a while if I have to. That's the plan: try to go a bit better on the start and elbows out!"
Although Ricciardo, lying 10th in the Drivers' Championship, experienced issues with his brake-by-wire system, he refused to blame the problem for not finishing even higher.
He added: "It didn't affect me when it counted. My lap which got me fourth was a clean lap - no issues, no excuses - that was probably as good as the car had.
"Sector Two is where [Mercedes and Red Bull] have a bit more on us, that's the downforce sector. There were little moments where I saw I was losing a bit, I thought I'd bleed even more time in the last sector so I backed out.
"There was a lot going on in that session, I'm still trying to come down a bit, but it's an awesome result."
