Daniel Ricciardo stuns F1 world and breaks points drought: ‘It’s nice to keep a few people quiet’

Daniel Ricciardo has done himself proud and silenced his doubters with a gritty fourth place in the Miami Grand Prix Sprint race.

The Aussie RB driver broke his points drought by holding on to fourth position in Sunday’s race, claiming his best finish since 2021 while driving for McLaren.

‘Every big achievement always feels like it’s necessary. It’s a happy feeling, a powerful feeling,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports.

‘Also to back up yesterday, [sprint] Qualifying was obviously great, but to back this up in a sprint race is even more satisfying.

The RB driver retained fourth place in Sunday morning’s sprint race (photo during qualifying)

‘So it feels very good, and nice to also keep a few people quiet.’

Ricciardo said the recent changes to his car have benefited him greatly.

‘I felt something straight away, to be honest. “I wanted more feeling, a little more confidence in what the car was going to give me,” he said.

“It’s not that it was far away, but there was just something missing.

‘As compared to [teammate] Yuki [Tsunoda] At the beginning of the year I felt like I couldn’t do what he could do in many corners. I knew there was something there, so I think there was really something with the chassis.”

The Western Australian climbed to third place during the race, but was overtaken by Sergio Perez.

Max Verstappen claimed victory, finishing 3.3 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc.

It was Ricciardo’s best finish in any Formula 1 racing format since 2021 with McLaren

Unfortunately, Ricciardo’s on-track exploits did not continue, with him dropping all the way to 18th on the grid at the end of qualifying for Monday morning’s Grand Prix (AEST).

Commentators described it as a ‘rude awakening’ for driver Ricciardo after his previous performance in the sprint race.