Daniel Ricciardo says he did "all he could" to land his first race victory of 2016 at the Singapore Grand Prix after falling agonisingly short at Marina Bay.
The Red Bull driver finished just half a second behind Mercedes' Nico Rosberg after an enthralling multi-strategy conclusion to the race. Ricciardo says if they had not have reacted to Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, he would still have failed to find the top step of the podium.
"I think we gave it a good shot and we tried something different in the end with the strategy to get within half a second," Ricciardo said. "We did the right thing in the end. Obviously it didn't give us the victory, but staying on the same tyre would not have given us a better chance."
"To overtake a Mercedes around here isn't easy. So to do it on the same tyre you would need a pretty big advantage to pull something off."
With 12 laps remaining, and trailing Rosberg by three seconds, Ricciardo pitted for the supersoft tyre. He rejoined 25 seconds behind the German, but began reducing the margin at a rapid rate as Rosberg's tyres started to wear.
However, traffic and his own grip issues in the dying laps thwarted his challenge. Despite the close call, Ricciardo admits he enjoyed racing at the Marina Bay and still believes a win is on the cards this season.
"We've come very close this year on numerous occasions, but I'm not going to stand up here and be disappointed," said Ricciardo.
"The team put me on a three stopper at the end and it was fun. It was good to push the whole race and get close to Nico at the end.
"After the race I said on the radio to the team that 'we will win this year'. We will get a downpour somewhere and hopefully that will throw up a few curveballs and we can get that victory we're after."