Ricciardo aware he still needs luck on his side to clinch overdue podium

Daniel Ricciardo believes he still requires luck to be on his side if he is to finally score a long-awaited podium with Renault.

Remarkably, Ricciardo is currently on his longest points-scoring run since early 2018, finishing in the top 10 in the last four races.

Alongside two fourth-place finishes in Belgium and Tuscany, Ricciardo was also sixth in Italy and fifth last time out in Russia, to leave him in sixth position in the drivers' standings, two points behind fourth-placed Lando Norris, who will be his team-mate next year at McLaren.

As for finishing in the top three, however, with Ricciardo not savouring a podium since winning the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix with Red Bull, that remains a tall order.

"Not to be pessimistic, but I think on pace, we’re just not quite there," said Ricciardo. "[Against] Mercedes, definitely not.

"I think Max [Verstappen] is driving very well and he’s obviously very comfortable with that car that he’s got underneath him.

"You probably need a bit of a reliability issue or a lap-one debacle or something. Reliability would be a little nicer. I don’t wish a crash on anyone.

"If one of them want to have an issue when I’m running fourth at any point then that’s cool, I’ll take it. The reality is, at best, we can be the fourth-quickest car on track."

As to whether Ricciardo can continue to be fourth or fifth at the remaining seven races from now through to the end of the season, the Australian believes following his performance at the Sochi Autodrom, he can at least be in the mix.

"After last weekend I can certainly be more confident moving forward," added Ricciardo. "Nico [Hülkenberg] did pretty well there last year, but it certainly wasn’t our strongest track, and personally it’s never been my strongest track.

"So to put in a good result personally, but also to have the car underneath me, really from FP1, that says a lot.

"It gives me confidence now at every track we go to. Whether it’s a top-five car, I don’t know, but certainly, I think we can realistically aim for a Q3 at every track now, no matter what the layout."

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