Daniel Ricciardo had reason to smile after making the top 10 in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Australian was left on the bubble both in Q1 and Q2 but would fall just the right side of the cut-off time to make Q3 for only the second time this season.

An eventual finish in P10 becomes 13th on the grid due to the penalty for his clash with Daniil Kvyat in Baku, but that didn't stop Ricciardo from feeling quite pleased. 

“We did a pretty good job to get into Q3 today," he reflected. "That was the target and I certainly felt after yesterday we had the potential to achieve that.

"We probably could have been slightly higher in the order for Q3 but I lost the rear out of Turn 13 on the second run and lost some time.

"That stopped it from being a really good session, but, in any case, it was a strong effort today. We have the penalty to add, but we’ll get our heads down in the race and look for points."

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In contrast, teammate Nico Hulkenberg's session was compromised before it started as he would go off at Turn 4 and just dislodge his front wing against the barrier.

Though able to recover, the German would only manage P16 and an early bath.

"I could have definitely got it into Q2," he stated. "It was not great obviously going off in the first run and I lost the new spec front wing as well.

A qualifying to forget for Nico Hulkenberg 😖#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/FWA9COrdLc

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 11, 2019

"For the second run, we had to revert back and the car felt quite different and I felt quite a loss of downforce so that definitely cost a bit of performance.

"I think otherwise, we would've made it into Q2 but there you go. You make mistakes you pay for it."