Daniel Ricciardo has described his Sunday as "almost the perfect day" after he carved through the field from 16th on the grid to finish fourth, just missing out on a podium spot by four seconds.
The Red Bull driver qualified an impressice third, but was dropped down to 16th with various grid penalties for new engine components. He managed to recover to finish fourth after completing some impressive overtakes, including a pass on Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen at the first chicane.
"I’m very, very happy about the result and loved it out there today," said Ricciardo. "It was good fun. Two of my favourite races this year have been starting from the back. Silverstone and this one.
"Some good overtakes in the race kept me excited and I had some real pace in the end. I could see Seb and the thought of a podium was tempting me, so I was obviously trying to catch him right up to the end.
"The boys did the quickest pit stop and I also got the fastest lap so that’s very cool. You can almost call it a perfect day."
Ricciardo doesn't believe he could have got a better result from 16th on the grid.
"We couldn’t have done much more from where we started. Of course I wanted to be up there on the podium as it looked unreal, but I believe it will come next year. Today has been a really good boost for everyone and we’re looking ahead to Singapore."
