The Australian has struggled to adapꦦt to McLaren’s 2021 F1 car since making the switch from Renault over the winter but enjoyed a breakthrough result in a treacherously wet qualifying at Spa.

With teamma🥂te Lando Norris out of qualifying following his scary crash at the start of Q3, McLaren's hopes rested with Ricciardo, who delivered with a brilliant lap to grab fourth on the grid. 

Ricciardo said his performance in tricky condiܫtions was “confidence-boosting” and hopes it will serve him well for any future wet running this season.

“I would say that getting a result like this i𒅌n these conditions is definitely confidence-b🐟oosting,” Ricciardo said.

“If it translates to the dry, who knows. But from just a pure level of confidence and moving forward, I think i𒀰f there is another race that we go to with wet or tricky conditions, I feel I’m going to ju💖mp in the car already with more of an understanding of what to expect.

ﷺ"In Q1 I was q🐟uite a bit off the pace. Then I made steps through the sessions. So jumping into a qualifying session in the wet and knowing that I will be closer in Q1 already, that builds a lot of confidence for me moving forward.”

Ricciardo improved as he grew in confidence as qualifying went on and left it late to jump up to four👍th with his final lap of Q3.

“🅺It was a good session, if 𒊎I look back, obviously the end result is good,” he added.

"And to get that in these co𓆉nditions because these conditions definitely require a significant amount of confidence a♛nd feel with the car.

“I chipped away at it♉. I was definitely a bit off in Q1. Then in Q2 I made a good step, and by Q3 I was getting better and closer to the edge. Maybe if there was Q4 I would be further up again!

“But generally 🍃happy [to] come back from the break and get out on the front foot, have a good solid session in the wet, and keep it steady. We are at the pointy end which is nice.”