Daniel Ricciardo has done himself proud and silenced his doubters with a gritty fourth-place finish in the Miami Grand Prix Sprint race.

The Aussie RB driver broke his points drought by holding onto his fourth position in Sunday’s race, claiming his best finish since 2021 when he was with McLaren.

‘Every big result always feels like it’s a needed one. It’s a happy feeling, it’s a powerful feeling,’ Ricciardo told Sky Sports.

‘Also to back up yesterday, [sprint] qualifying was obviously great, but to back it up over the course of a sprint race, that’s even more satisfying.

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Daniel Ricciardo has left Formula 1 fans in awe with an excellent drive at the Miami Grand Prix

The RB driver  held onto fourth position in Sunday morning’s sprint race (pictured during qualifications)

‘So it feels very good, and nice to also keep a few people quiet.’

Ricciardo said the recent changes to his car have greatly benefited him.

‘Immediately I honestly felt something. I felt like more feeling, a bit more confidence in what the car was going to give me,’ he said.

‘It’s not that it was far off but there was just something missing.

‘Compared to [teammate] Yuki [Tsunoda] at the start of the year I could just feel like I wasn’t able to do what he was able to do in a lot of the corners. I knew there was something there so I think there really was something with the chassis.’

The West Aussie climbed to third during the race, but was overtaken by Sergio Perez.

Max Verstappen claimed victory, finishing 3.3 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc.

It was Ricciardo’s best finish in any Formula 1 race format since 2021 while at McLaren

Unfortunately, Ricciardo’s heroics on the track haven’t continued, with him dropping all the way back to 18th spot on the grid at the end of qualifying for Monday morning’s (AEST) grand prix.

Commentators described it as a ‘rude awakening’ for Ricciardo driver after his earlier sprint race performance.