Daniel Ricciardo joked that he gave away half a tenth of a second to Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen as a birthday gift during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Verstappen, who turned 20 on Saturday at Sepang, trailed Ricciardo after the opening Q3 runs but moved ahead on his final effort, the pair ultimately split by just 0.054s.
As a result, Verstappen will start the race from third place, with Ricciardo fourth, prompting the latter to light-heartedly suggest it was “all planned in my mind”.
“I did all I could today and I think we both got the most out of the car,” said Ricciardo.
“We’re half a second from Lewis [Hamilton] around here so I think we can be pretty happy with that. It gives us a chance in the race tomorrow even if it’s dry.
“I would have loved to be on third today, but that half a tenth was actually Max’s birthday gift from me and I wanted to start on fourth really, because that’s where I started last year and I won.
“This is obviously all planned in my mind. I did a bit of a lift of the throttle just before the finish line, so yeah it’s of course all calculated!”
Verstappen was upbeat over his qualifying lap as he beat Ricciardo for the 11th time in 15 qualifying sessions.
“Third in qualifying is a pretty good birthday present today,” said Verstappen.
“The whole weekend I was not fully happy with the car and in the last practice session I didn’t have the perfect balance, but in qualifying we managed to pull it together and the car was pretty good.
“To be four or five tenths off pole position on this track and knowing they can turn up their engines in qualifying means we are doing a good job.
“I think on the long runs we are a bit more competitive so I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow.”
