Ricciardo resisted pressure from Carlos Sainz throughout much of Saturday’s 19-lap encounter to record his first top-four result since Russia in 2021.

It was a performance that built on a strong showing in Sprint Qualifying on Friday where Ricciardo put his RB on the second row of the grid.

In the race, he rose to third off the line but quickly succumbed to Sergio Perez before fending off Sainz for the balance of the race.

“I couldn’t breathe the whole race,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports.

“I figured I’ll try my best to keep them behind – if the tyres go then they go.

“But I was like every lap I could defend, that was like a pat on the back.

“I was just like ‘stuff it’, and let’s just go, and if my tyres give up, then so be it.”

Ricciardo was inch-perfect throughout, earning a thumbs up from Carlos Sainz as the pair took the chequered flag.

It was an important result for Ricciardo, who has battled speculation about his future following a tough start to the year.

That included wild claims the Australian would be ousted before the Miami Grand Prix.

“Every big result always feels like it’s a needed one,” Ricciardo explained.

“It’s a happy feeling. It’s a powerful feeling.

“To backup yesterday, you know, qualifying was obviously great but to back it up over the course of a Sprint race, that’s even more satisfying.

“So, feels very good, and nice to also keep a few people quiet.”

The result backs up an upward trend which arguably began in Australia but was highlighted in China, where he switched into a new RB chassis.

It’s that change that Ricciardo credits for his performance in Miami.

“I think there’s two parts to it,” he said of his upturn.

“We changed chassis in China and immediately, I honestly felt something.

“I felt like more feeling, a bit more confidence in what the car was going to give me.

“It’s not that it was far off, but there was just something missing, you know, compared to Yuki [Tsunoda] at the start of the year.

“I could just feel like I wasn’t able to do what he was able to do in a lot of the corners, so I knew there was something there.

“So I think there really was something with the chassis – maybe the team still doesn’t think so, but I do.

“And then we had a floor upgrade here and I think that’s helped us in the high-speed.”

Having finished fourth in the Sprint, Ricciardo carries a three-place grid penalty into Sunday’s race courtesy of passing Nico Hulkenberg under Safety Car conditions in the Chinese Grand Prix.