Ricciardo from hero to zero on a rollercoaster day in Miami

The VCARB driver, who started the campaign tipped for a return to champions Red Bull next year but has struggled to deliver, started and finished fourth in the sprint. Ricciardo's signature smile was once again on show after he scored five points.

But there was nothing to smile about during qualifying as Ricciardo failed to make it out of the first phase. There was more bad news for the Australian who will start last on Sunday because of a three-place penalty carried over from China.

While it was a deflating end to a promising day, finishing fourth in the sprint, albeit in a 100km race without pitstops, was Ricciardo's highest placing in any format since 2021 when he was at McLaren.

Ricciardo told Sky Sports television: "Every big result always feels like it's a needed one. It's a happy feeling, it's a powerful feeling. "Also to back up [Sprint Race] qualifying was obviously great, but to back it up over the course of a sprint race, that's even more satisfying. So it feels very good, and nice to also keep a few people quiet."

Ricciardo said every lap he could defend his position, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz fifth, felt like a pat on the back. He also credited a change of chassis at the previous race in China for giving him back some confidence in the car.

The Australian insisted: "Immediately I honestly felt something. I felt like more feeling, a bit more confidence in what the car was going to give me. It's not that it was far off but there was just something missing.

"Compared to Yuki [Tsunoda] at the start of the year, I could just feel like I wasn't able to do what he was able to do in a lot of the corners. I knew there was something there so I think there really was something with the chassis."

Ricciardo said a floor upgrade for Miami had also helped with high-speed performance. Tsunoda finished eighth for the final sprint point.

After the Sprint Race on Saturday, in Qualifying it was 'business as usual' at VCARB with Ricciardo stranded in Q1 and Tsunoda, three-tenths of a second faster in SQ1 than his teammate, the Japanese driver eventually doing enough to line up tenth on the grid for today's third Miami Grand Prix.

Ricciardo's well-intended return to the Red Bull fold has yet to deliver on any promise, as the once feared and respected F1 driver has slid into a crisis of form, where the only real consistency he is finding is being beaten by Tsunoda when it matters.

Dan's dream of getting a call-up to be Verstappen's teammate again, his intent all along, is far from being realised let alone considered as his form hits a rollercoaster of ups and downs, all closely watched by VCARB reserve Liam Lawson