Ricciardo qualified 18th of the 19 runners in Melbourne. He lined up last on the grid after Zhou Guanyu swapped his front wing and started from the pit lane.
RB adopted an aggressive strategy for its Australian star, which saw him among the first to pit.
It worked to some extent, Ricciardo climbing to 12th by the chequered flag – albeit benefitting from the retirements of Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell.
“I feel like everyone pitted really early as well,” he noted.
“Obviously, the idea was to try and come out and get a little bit of a clear track, but I think everyone was pretty on it – maybe they were struggling as well. I guess they started on the mediums, so maybe that wasn’t nice for them.
“I don’t really know how far we could have gone through the pack, so it probably worked a little bit. Could have maybe worked more, I don’t know.
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“But I think, obviously when you’re at the back, you’ve got to try something and certainly, it wasn’t silly.”
Though he fell shy of the points, it was a promising recovery during which he matched team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s pace.
Given their different strategies and starting positions, it was an encouraging result just 24 hours after a disappointing qualifying session.
The concern for Ricciardo following Saturday’s track action was his positive feeling in the car was not translating to lap time.
Analysis of his best lap in qualifying overlayed against Tsunoda’s highlighted the differences.
Ricciardo was earlier on the brakes in key areas and less smooth in throttle application. His minimum speed was lower, too.
Come the race, he could move forward with competitive lap times – a performance more reflective of the team’s expectations.
Though still far from happy with his result, it was an encouraging and tentative step in the right direction at a time when rumours about his future were beginning to swirl.
“I came into this weekend, really, honestly, deep down believing like we were going to have a very, very good weekend,” he said.
“Having a full preseason and all that, and all the races last year, I honestly thought that this year would be we would start a lot stronger.
“So there is that which I understand not only me, but a few people are wondering why.
“The important thing is that I stay on [the] horse.
“It’s not that my head is filled with nonsense or anything, I honestly feel good, and just unfortunately, the results haven’t made me feel awesome.
“But deep down, behind the wheel, I do feel good and excited and just want to just want to keep racing.
“I’m sure we will find a bit more on myself and I still believe maybe we’ll find a little something on the car.”
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