Italian GP: Daniel Ricciardo pins hopes on Toro Rosso's top speed

The Australian was fastest in the main speed trap at Monza, as well as the ones situated at the end of the first sector and the start/finish line.

He was also second fastest in the trap at the end of sector two on the approach to Ascari.

Although his best time through the middle sector, which features both Lesmos, was relatively uncompetitive, the Toro Rosso was strong in the others and quick enough to qualify seventh.

"Hopefully that's a good sign for tomorrow," said Ricciardo when shown the speed trap figures.

"Looking at the sector times, you don't have to be Einstein to figure out we are running quite low downforce.

"Looking at sector two, it hurts us, but tomorrow it should help us for defending or attacking."

Ricciardo admitted that the low-downforce approach did make the car tricky to drive.

He had an off-track moment at the second Lesmo in Q2, as well as skimming the gravel at the exit of the second chicane in Q3, while team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne had a lurid run through the gravel at the Parabolica on his way to 10th on the grid, but does not expect to have any problems in the race.

"We can't complain [about the handling] because we both got into Q3," said Ricciardo.

"A fast car is never an easy car to drive and a few mistakes came during the session.

"It's not the easiest, but we got some pretty good pace out of it.

"Once we put fuel in there, everything slows down and it gets away from the knife-edge, so on a long-run it should be easier to manage."

MONZA MAIN SPEED TRAP

The main speed trap at Monza is located on the start/finish straight, 212 metres before Turn 1.

 1. Daniel Ricciardo     340.4km/h
 2. Esteban Gutierrez    340.0km/h
 3. Jean-Eric Vergne     339.8km/h
 4. Max Chilton          338.6km/h
 5. Jules Bianchi        338.6km/h
 6. Felipe Massa         338.4km/h
 7. Fernando Alonso      338.3km/h
 8. Lewis Hamilton       338.1km/h
 9. Nico Rosberg         337.8km/h
10. Kimi Raikkonen       337.8km/h
11. Romain Grosjean      337.1km/h
12. Pastor Maldonado     336.8km/h
13. Valtteri Bottas      336.4km/h
14. Mark Webber          336.3km/h
15. Sebastian Vettel     336.1km/h
16. Nico Hulkenberg      335.7km/h
17. Jenson Button        331.8km/h
18. Sergio Perez         331.6km/h
19. Giedo van der Garde  330.1km/h
20. Charles Pic          329.8km/h
21. Adrian Sutil         327.2km/h
22. Paul di Resta        326.8km/h