Ricciardo eyes Hulkenberg after "mega" Silverstone F1 qualifying

Daniel Ricciardo says he’s looking to beat the Racing Point of Nico Hulkenberg to fourth-place in Formula 1's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Ricciardo was as high as third after the first runs in Q3 but dropped to fifth as Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen improved their times on their final runs.

Reflecting on his best qualifying of the season, Ricciardo praised the progress Renault had made since last weekend’s British Grand Prix.

"Yes it was pretty mega," Ricciardo said. "It was really cool. There was a bit of hype after yesterday and second practice, the top three, that got everyone a little giddy. I was not expecting a top three today, even though we were close. To be in the top five I was really happy.

"So a lot of things we learned yesterday might not have held up for today, so we were a little bit slow to get going in the morning, but come qualifying we did what we had to do. It felt good.

"Every lap I did in qualifying across the line with quite a lot of satisfaction. I know we were third for a little bit, but we will take fifth. I’m pretty pleased."

Ricciardo is unsure if he will be able to challenge the Red Bull of Verstappen for the podium but the Austrian is hopeful he will be able to topple Hulkenberg given the German’s lack of race running in 2020.

"Typically I look at the guys around me,’’ Ricciardo added. "Max you would think would have more race pace. But he is starting on the hard, which looks quite nice but it might not work for him.

"He might be in his own little race for now. I do feel that Nico can be a target tomorrow. Even on the fact alone that he has not done a race distance yet.

"So for him just to understand the car, I don’t know if there were fans here. Maybe someone would be lucky enough to catch his head in one of the high-speed corners by about lap 20! We’ll see.

"He obviously has the car under them but he will have a few other obstacles to face tomorrow, so that could certainly bring them into the battle, and I think it will be a good one. Max is the unknown. We’ll see how he goes on the hards."