Daniel Ricciardo surprises the F1 world and breaks the points drought: “It’s good to keep some people quiet”

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

The Australian RB driver broke his points drought by maintaining his fourth position in Sunday’s race, achieving his best result since 2021, when he was with McLaren.

“Every great result always seems necessary. “It’s a feeling of happiness, it’s a powerful feeling,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports.

“Also, to back it up yesterday, qualifying (sprint) was obviously great, but to back it up over the course of a sprint race, it’s even more satisfying.”

“So it feels really good and nice to keep some people quiet.”

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

‘I immediately felt something sincerely. I had more sensations, a little more confidence in what the car was going to give me,” she said.

‘It’s not that it was far away, but something was simply missing.

‘Compared to (teammate) Yuki (Tsunoda) at the beginning of the year, I could feel like I couldn’t do what he could do in a lot of corners. He knew there was something there, so I think there really was something with the chassis.”

The Western Australian moved up to third position during the race, but was overtaken by Sergio Perez.

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

Unfortunately, Ricciardo’s on-track heroics have not continued, dropping to 18th on the grid at the end of qualifying for Monday morning’s (AEST) grand prix.

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