After battling car troubles and whiplash, Daniel Ricciardo doesn't know what to expect when starting from seventh in the Australian Grand Prix.
But the Australian driver believes anything is possible in a race expected to be controlled by Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton takes pole position into the season-opening Formula One race at Albert Park in Melbourne, with Rosberg second after scorching performances in Saturday's qualifying session.
As for Ricciardo, he was just relieved to qualify seventh fastest after his car problems continued.
"Seventh is good today, but we want first," Ricciardo told reporters.
A day after his mechanics installed a new engine in his Red Bull Racing car, Ricciardo overcame more problems on Saturday.
During practice, his car stopped and had to be pushed back to pit lane by race marshals - in the four hours of qualifying, spread over two days, he only completed 19 laps.
And during qualifying, it took a blazing last lap for the Perth-born driver to snare seventh on the grid.
"I'm happy now. Or happier," Ricciardo said.
"It's only seventh but how the weekend has been going, we have got be really happy with that."
Ricciardo conceded ongoing problems made it impossible to predict his race day.
"I don't know what to expect to be honest," he said.
"It has been tricky definitely... we are probably having a few more issues that weren't expected.
"It is like that for now and we have got to try and sort it out, so a little bit of whiplash here and there, but it's alright.
"The issues are pretty complex and obviously can bite you when you don't expect so we will still stay calm with all of that."
Ricciardo said the displays of Hamilton and Rosberg for Mercedes were ominous.
Hamilton clocked a fastest lap of one minute 26.419 seconds, followed by teammate Rosberg (1:26.921) and Williams' Felipe Massa (1:27.718).
Ferrari pair Sebastian Vettel (1:27.757) and Kimi Raikkonen (1:27.790) round out the top five with Williams' Valtteri Bottas (1:28.087) sixth, ahead of Ricciardo (1:28.329).
"You look at the three teams in front of us and they have been up there all weekend and even through testing," Ricciardo said.
"Seventh is where we are now so I'm happy that we at least achieved that."
Hamilton claimed his fourth pole position in Melbourne but he hasn't won the Australian race since 2008.
"I feel incredibly blessed to have this car, I am massively grateful for all the hard work the team has done," Hamilton told reporters.
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