Daniel Ricciardo admits he did not expect a place on the front row of the grid in Baku, where he will start the Grand Prix of Europe after Sergio Perez serves a grid penalty.
Ricciardo capitalised on late drama in Q3, which came after a red flag with just over two minutes of the session remaining. When the session went green Ricciardo was the first man out of the pits, meaning he was in clear air and reached the line first as it ticked towards zero.
He ended up climbing from seventh to third with a 1:43.966, a time replicated by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel behind, but will start alongside poleman Nico Rosberg after Perez's gearbox penalty.
Speaking about his final lap, Ricciardo said: "It was hectic, it was intense. Thanks to the guys for getting me out at the front and giving me that clear track to obviously make sure I got a lap in. My first run in Q3 was pretty average to say the least, I made a few mistakes, then I thought I had one more chance but then the red flag came out and I thought that was it. But they got me out in front and I put in a lap, so it was good.
"I knew not everyone would get a lap so I was just trying to think do a good enough lap to at least jump up from seventh. In the end it was third. I maybe gave Seb a little bit of a tow, I don't know how close he was to me but it was good, very close and I'm really happy to bounce back with top three."
Ricciardo had finished fourth in FP3 but Red Bull had looked to be behind the likes of Force India and Williams on Friday. He admitted he did not expect to finish so high up on the grid.
"We definitely improved [the car]. Today we took a step in the right direction. Already this morning we were looking like we were more in the competition. Yesterday we struggled and it didn't help losing track time with the crash in P1. Qualifying was good, we were able to chip away at it. Q3 wasn't very clean, on the first lap I made a few mistakes and didn't put it together.
"Obviously the red flag made the second run just go out and try and set a time. Obviously we did that, I put in a time that was good enough to be here so I think we received well. Did I think we would be here yesterday? No. Did I think we were going to be on the front row? Not really. But thanks to Perez and a few circumstances I think we put ourselves in a good position."