Toro Rosso addresses exhaust burning for Chinese Grand Prix

Ricciardo stopped in both Australia and Malaysia because the exhaust was burning parts of the car, a problem that also afflicted team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne's machine to a lesser degree.

The Australian believes that the three-week gap since Malaysia has given the team enough time to solve its problem.

"The break came at a good time, giving the guys some time to work because after Australia it was always going to be difficult to find a real solution in a few days," said Ricciardo.

"The team has changed a few things with the form of the exhaust, the structure, and hopefully that will hold up.

"[The changes] are mainly focused on reliability for now.

"When it was burning stuff in the car, we were losing performance, but when the exhaust is working as it should I don't think we'll get [extra] performance at the moment."

Team-mate Jean Eric Vergne is more hopeful that even though the exhaust tweak is relatively minor, there will also be a performance gain.

He expects improvements in both downforce and consistency of the rear end of the car.

"We had an exhaust in the first two races that was not working as we were expecting so we found better solutions for this weekend to make it work as we want it to.

"It's nothing special, a little [change] but one that makes a bigger difference than what you see with your eyes.

"With the exhaust you are always trying to get more downforce from it but also to get it more consistent, you don't want it to be peaky."