Daniel Ricciardo is certain Mercedes are not out of reach from the second row of the grid in Malaysia, especially if either Red Bull can get a good start off the line.
Ricciardo qualified behind teammate Max Verstappen in fourth position as Red Bull locked out the second row of the grid behind the world champions. Though Mercedes has looked comfortable over one lap, Red Bull's long run pace suggested it can be a contender for the grand prix.
With getaways one of Mercedes' weaknesses, Ricciardo senses there could be an opportunity at lights out.
"Firstly on [Red Bull's] starts, no concerns with that, we've generally been pretty good all season at least with my side, so that should remain," he said. "With Mercedes, like always if you can on the start it helps getting some track position and forcing them to pit out of their window or something,"
Ricciardo also explained how Red Bull's decision to stick exclusively to the medium tyre in Q1 has opened up its strategy for Sunday afternoon.
"By doing that we save a new soft, so if we do decide to use the second soft in the race it is a new one. So that was the reason for that. We knew that we'd have the pace to get through with the medium. That was really the reason.
"If we do have that soft. Maybe we can rely on a bit of strategy to put some pressure on them and maybe leapfrog them at some point tomorrow. I won't get my hopes up, but I won't say it's out of reach, do what we can and try make it exciting for everyone."
Though he was out-qualified by teammate Verstappen, Ricciardo is happy with his improvement overnight after a tricky Friday.
"I felt like I got into it this morning, and got up to speed quite quickly. So in a way sometimes it is nicer as well, like yesterday I was not really happy at all with the balance. And I got in the car today and I was like this feels good. So sometimes it is quite nice to have something a step better.
"We adapted well, so Max still remained in front today but it was a very small gap, and I was pretty comfortable in the end with everything. So not really a negative in the end. By qualifying we were all ready to go."