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The Australian qualified 12th for today’s Shanghai race, a performance following a sprint qualifying result that saw him start the Sprint ahead of RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
It was the first time Ricciardo had bettered his Japanese counterpart in a qualifying session all season.
That upturn in form has coincided with the 34-year-old sporting a new RB chassis.
While refusing to single that specific change out as the reason his form has improved, Ricciardo conceded it was a factor.
“Definitely, it feels like a more normal weekend,” he enthused.
“I would say from the get-go [Friday] morning we just felt like we were in a better place, and everything came – I don’t want to say easier because that sounds too easy, but it came a bit more seamlessly so far this weekend. It’s encouraging.
“Obviously we did change our chassis so I don’t want to jump on that yet and be like ‘it’s definitely that’, I think we need to prove that over the course of a few races.
“But that was obviously something we did change this weekend and, so far, it’s been my best weekend of the year.”
Pressed on whether he could feel the new chassis, Ricciardo did admit there was a difference behind the wheel.
“I will say yes,” he admitted.
“It’s one track, but yes, to be black and white with it, for now, yes.”
Aside from the chassis swap, there has been little change for Ricciardo or RB this weekend.
The team’s only upgrade in China is a tweak to the headrest, aimed at “improving the flow quality downstream,” according to the submission to the FIA.
It’s hardly a change likely to revolutionise the car’s performance.
That has left Ricciardo to attribute his progress to a continuation of the set-up discoveries made in Japan which saw the Australian within touching distance of Tsunoda.
However, he doesn’t rule out the impact of the chassis, but wants more time with it before making such a claim.
“Say if my weekend, how it’s gone so far, continues for the next five [races] completely do this kind of 180 so to speak, then I would have confidence in saying alright, well maybe we will never know what it was, but something didn’t make me feel right with the previous chassis,” Ricciardo reasoned.
“I would love to be here in five races time and say that because the it means the season has definitely turned around and finally got that monkey off our back, I don’t know, kind of put that thing to bed.”
Ricciardo qualified 12th for today’s Chinese Grand Prix, while Tsunoda could do no better than 19th.
