Sprint hit, grid miss: Ricciardo's Miami roller-coaster

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Daniel Ricciardo has won his first points of the season, but dropped to last on the grid in Miami. (AP PHOTO)

Daniel Ricciardo has endured the highs and lows of motor racing in a day of mixed emotions at the Miami Grand Prix.

The Australian RB driver savoured his first points of the Formula One season with fourth place in Saturday's sprint race but came quickly back down to earth a few hours later with a disappointing qualifying effort.

Ricciardo, who started the campaign tipped for a return to champions Red Bull next year but has struggled to deliver on that promise, started and finished fourth in the sprint.

The Perth-born racer's signature megawatt smile was once again on show after he scored five points.

But there was nothing to grin about during qualifying as Ricciardo failed to make it out of the first phase.

More bad news was to follow for the Australian, who will start last in Sunday's grand prix because of a three-place penalty carried over from the previous round in China.

While it was a deflating end to a promising day, finishing fourth in the sprint, albeit in a 100km race without pitstops, was Ricciardo's highest placing in any format since 2021 when he was at McLaren.

"Every big result always feels like it's a needed one. It's a happy feeling, it's a powerful feeling," he told Sky Sports.

"Also to back up yesterday, (sprint) qualifying was great, but to back it up over the course of a sprint race, that's even more satisfying.

"It feels very good, and nice to also keep a few people quiet."

Ricciardo said every lap he could defend his position ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in fifth felt like a pat on the back.

He also credited a change of chassis at the previous race in China for giving him back some confidence in the car.

"Immediately I felt something. More feeling, a bit more confidence in what the car was going to give me," he said.

"It's not that it was far off, but there was just something missing.

"Compared to (teammate) Yuki (Tsunoda) at the start of the year, I could just feel I wasn't able to do what he was able to do in a lot of the corners.

"I knew there was something there, really was something (wrong) with the chassis."

Ricciardo said a floor upgrade for Miami had also helped with high-speed performance.

Tsunoda finished eighth for the final sprint point and qualified 10th for Sunday's GP (Monday AEST).

Australian Associated Press