Daniel Ricciardo was pleased by the race pace of his Red Bull in practice as he set the target of points from the back of the grid with penalties looming for engine changes at the Italian Grand Prix.

Both the Australian and teammate Max Verstappen will have to fight back through the field, as both exceeded their season allocation of four of each power unit component at Monza.

That meant, though while both drivers finished both practice sessions in fifth and sixth with the Dutchman ahead in both, much of the emphasis was on ensuring a quick race car as they ran very skinny wings for top speed and analysed tyre performance.

“With fuel in it felt pretty good,” Ricciardo said. “We still obviously want to be quicker over one lap but more so this weekend, starting at the back, we want to be quicker on the long runs and the race on Sunday.

“We look good there, we only had one lap on the Supersoft this afternoon on low fuel. We could definitely do better with that, but our priority was the long-run, and we're in a better place with that, so not bad.”

Asked what his expectations are for the Grand Prix, Ricciardo, who finished fifth from the back at Silverstone in July, is eyeing a repeat of that performance.

“I'll never say it's out of reach,” he replied weighing up the possibility of a podium, “but I've never got a podium here starting from fifth or sixth. So a podium from call it 19th or wherever I will be, the odds are against us.

“I don't know, maybe the weather's getting delayed. It was supposed to bucket down today but it didn't. It might get pushed to Sunday and we'll have a chance, but otherwise, a bag of points.”

When the same question was put to Verstappen about podium aspirations, he commented: “Well if two cars crash in front of us after overtaking all of the other ones, which is already a big task, then we have a chance but normally not.”

When reflecting on the pace he had in practice, Max wasn't too concerned as expectations at Monza are typically low for the Red Bull team

“[It’s] More or less what we expected. It’s hard for us on this track with a lot of straights and then we have to combine it with a very low downforce setting,” he said.

In the days following his sixth retirement of the year at Spa, there has been a lot of comments both on the engine situation at Renault, with Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul and Advisor Alain Prost both apologising to the 19-year-old and his future with the Milton Keynes team.

When it was suggested the extra pain of the grid penalties this weekend was worth it for a better race in Singapore, the lack of confidence did seep through.

“I hope so," Verstappen said. "I hope from now on we can finish the rest of the season like this but you never know.”