Updated September 21, 2014 06:13:40
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was only looking at the positives despite seeing a first Formula One pole position snatched away from him at the death of Singapore qualifying by title-chasing Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
The rookie Australian had clocked the fastest time with his final lap at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, only to see Rosberg and then Hamilton better his mark of 1:45.854 by 0.173.
Rather than being fed up by the near miss, Ricciardo, who won this season's Canadian, Hungarian and Belgian grands prix, was just happy to be so close to the feuding Mercedes duo.
'It's encouraging,' the Perth-born 25-year-old told reporters.
'Coming into the weekend I thought that if we could be within two or three tenths of Mercedes it should give us an optimistic chance of staying with them in the race.
It's pretty cool how many cars are within half a second or a second. So, it's going to be a fun race tomorrow.
'I think we ended up a little closer than we thought we would, particularly after yesterday, so it was a good day.'
Ricciardo, who is third in the championship behind the Mercedes pair, finished just ahead of his Red Bull team-mate and quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who was 0.221 off pole.
They will start ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (fifth) and Kimi Raikkonen (seventh) and the Williams pair of Felipe Massa (sixth) and eight-placed Valtteri Bottas, who was only half a second down on Hamilton in a tight qualifying session.
'It's amazing how close we are,' Ricciardo said.
'Monaco is a street circuit but it's a lot shorter lap so you can expect us to be closer but this one, yeah, it's pretty cool how many cars are within half a second or a second.
'So, it's going to be a fun race tomorrow definitely. I think tyres will be key, as always, but particularly here. It's not going to be as straightforward as Monza with a one-stop. So, it should be fun.'
Ricciardo looking forward to the 'rush' on slick circuit
Heavy rain fell shortly after qualifying session ended with more forecast for race day which could throw open the 61-lap race on the winding and demanding circuit.
Ricciardo said everyone on the grid was looking forward to the punishing race, which Alonso predicted would hit the two-hour time limit rather than go the 61 laps.
'Street circuits are fun. I think all us drivers enjoy them,' Ricciardo said.
'You jump across kerbs, you brush near the wall, it's a little bit like the closer you get the more you want to risk and I guess that's why we race, we love that rush, that adrenaline.
'It's like speed, we wish we could go faster. It's a bit like that when you come to a street circuit, you just really enjoy handling the car, playing with fire, so to speak.
'It's not always the quickest way when it's sliding around but I think you've got to take hold on a street circuit so that's where I get the enjoyment.'
Vettel, who has won the last three races in Singapore, did not share his team-mate's joy at making the second row of the grid.
The German, who had engine failure at the end of practice and only did five laps in the second session, thought he should have beaten the Mercedes duo.
'I think pole was manageable today,' he said.
'I could have done a better job today by just getting a better lap together but I didn't so I can't be happy with that.
'Definitely I think if you look at raw lap times I think I should have been higher up but I am not so.'
Reuters
First posted September 21, 2014 06:10:08
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