Daniel Ricciardo is optimistic he's turned a corner after qualifying seventh in China

Question: how many Formula 1 drivers take the time after a press session to individually thank journalists for attending? Answer: not many. Daniel Ricciardo is one of the few.

Ricciardo could be forgiven if he didn't feel quite so upbeat at the start of the week. His season to date has been blighted by exhaust failures in both Australia and Malaysia, while he described last year's Chinese Grand Prix as "our worst race". Yet after those productive practice sessions, the Perth native is optimistic. "It was looking pretty good in terms of reliability. We have to see. In Formula 1 things happen but hopefully we've got a bit of bad luck in the first few weekends out of the way and this is where we start to get the ball rolling." Ricciardo thought he had the ball rolling at the same stage of last year's Bahrain Grand Prix, where he qualified sixth after one of the most impressive qualifying performances of the season. Alas, one of the worst race starts of the season was to follow, with Ricciardo way down in 16th place at the end of lap one. He made little headway thereafter, finishing a lap down and seemingly bewildered by the experience afterwards. It seemed almost cruel to dredge the memory back up but Ricciardo insisted that something similar won't happen again. "It's been nearly a year since then and I've had plenty of time to reflect after that," he said. "To be honest, since then I've just been hanging out to get another Q3 and to get another chance - to fix everything I didn't do that day. "I can't wait for tomorrow and to do what I know I can." Thanks for your time, Daniel. "Beauty. I look forward to the chat tomorrow."