Daniel Ricciardo admits he's feeling the pressure to ensure he scores a good result this weekend at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, given how close the fight for fifth in the Constructors' Championship is.
Renault currently occupy fifth, but with a strong showing in Brazil, Toro Rosso have closed to within eight points, threatening Renault's position and the many millions in prize money that come with finishing a place higher.
Ricciardo was a lowly 16th in practice with team-mate Nico Hulkenberg 15th whilst Toro Rosso held 9th and 10th.
The Australian admits there is tension to perform and finish the job of securing fifth for the French manufacturer and is hopeful they can find some performance overnight.
"There is tension, I won’t lie," Ricciardo said. "There is a duty to take care of it and there is a bit of tension.
"They [Toro Rosso] looked all right today. I like staying in the fight at the last race. Coming here with nothing…it keeps us on our toes. We have got some work to do but by tomorrow we will be OK.
"It is nice to come to the end of the season, it's a long one, 21 races. We still have a job to do, we have got to stay in front of Toro Rosso. That is the big objective for us this weekend. They were quicker than us today."
Ricciardo suffered an engine failure in FP1 which curtailed his running, but isn't concerned.
"It was not our greatest Friday. But it is just Friday. We had the problem this morning – it is the last race, high mileage engine, things are running to the end now. – we are OK; we've got our race engine."
