Ricciardo smiling again...

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that, pre-race, Red Bull and himself reckoned a fourth-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday would be "optimistic", but was happy to be pleasantly surprised at the amount of overtaking opportunities which were presented in Suzuka, which left him "smiling".

In Saturday's qualifying session, Ricciardo failed to progress to Q3 for the fifth time in his last seven races, leaving him with a starting position of 15th the next day.

However, the Australian rallied in the GP to finish fourth from 15th, which exceeding expectations of both himself and the Red Bull bosses.

"With all things considered in where I started I didn’t know where I'd come today," the Australian said after the race.

"I knew I would pass a few cars but I thought fourth would be optimistic. If we start at the back with penalties, fourth is a realistic target but even the boss thought fourth was optimistic today."

Ricciardo reported during the race that he was suffering from engine issues, but remains in the dark as to what was the cause.

"I described it as a knock, I don’t know what it was - it happened in sixth gear and I would get a big hesitation and a kick," he continued.

"Whether it was gearbox or not, I don't know, but it was harsh and didn't sound good so I wanted to make sure I didn’t do any damage."

Honey badger on the prowl at the #JapaneseGP ???? Up to P4 from P15 ???? #F1jp pic.twitter.com/TexQja36SC — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) 7 October 2018

His poor outing in qualifying on Saturday was met with a foul-mouthed rant as he made it back to the paddock, but after enjoying better fortune in the race proper, he is back to his usual, happy self.

"The soft tyres were ok," Ricciardo added.

"I was securing fourth behind Kimi. I didn’t expect to do so many on track passes today so that kept me smiling...

"Hot damn."

MORE: How Lewis Hamilton can win the F1 title in Austin
MORE: Verstappen hits back at Vettel, Suzuka stewards