Ricciardo says Toro Rosso updates working now after strong showing in Bahrain

The result represents a significant improvement after Ricciardo struggled in China, qualifying and finishing 17th.

"We had a below average week in China with some updates we brought. We persisted with them and made them work significantly better here," he said.

The Australian is now focusing on the race and on trying to score as many points as possible.

"Tonight we will be looking at all our strategy options regarding tyres. I have to focus on scoring as many points as possible. I hope I am still smiling tomorrow evening."

Chief engineer Laurent Mekies said the team has now understood the problems that it suffered from in China.

"We seem to have understood the reasons why we were quite slow last week in China.

"Daniel has secured a fantastic result after driving very well all weekend. Daniel will have a very tough fight up there, but whatever happens it is important to put last week behind us," he said.

Ricciardo's team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne did not progress beyond Q1.

"I do not understand why I was slow this afternoon. I am keen to get back to the engineers to look at the data and find out why I could not deliver the performance."