Daniel Ricciardo is hoping he can make the most of his tyre advantage and challenge the Mercedes drivers on the opening lap of the US Grand Prix.
The Australian used super-softs for his quickest Q2 run, while those around him on the grid went for the more durable softs.
Ricciardo then went on to qualify in third place in the top 10 shoot-out, half a second behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton.
He hopes the softer compound will give him the edge at the start and he can take the fight to Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
“I’m happy with qualifying for sure,” he said afterwards. “It was pretty much the best we could do today, good progression and we got quicker and quicker.
“We start on the super-softs and the guys around me are on softs so I hope that works out well for me.
“We suspected that would be the case and I was happy to do it, hopefully it gives me a little bit off the start and we can challenge the first lap.
“The super-softs probably won’t have as much range as the softs so you want to try and get at least a handful of laps out of them, but ideally it puts me in a better position off the start and hopefully I can dictate my own pace as opposed to fighting in traffic.”
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