Daniel Ricciardo showed he can once again be a threat at the Monaco Grand Prix, recording the second fastest time in Friday practice.
Ricciardo's Red Bull has been struggling for pace all season but on the streets of Monaco, where he claimed pole and seemed to be set for victory before a team mistake in the pits cost him last year, he very nearly had no peer.
Except for Ferrari star and former Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel was the only man to put together a lap under 1 minute, 13 seconds with a blistering lap record 1:12.720 as the championship leader made a statement at the famous 3.337 kilometre street circuit.
Ricciardo was second for Red Bull in 1:13.207, Kimi Raikkonen another tenth back in third in the second Ferrari, and the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz impressed in fourth and fifth.
Ricciardo's Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen was sixth with a time of 1:13.486.
The result left Ricciardo beaming after qualifying heading into a race weekend that means so much to every driver on the grid.
"We are looking pretty good at the moment,|" Ricciardo said.
"We put some good laps together and know where we need to improve so I'm very happy with our position after the first day. We have good downforce here, the rear of the car feels like it is working the best it has so far this year.
"If we can get the tyres warmed up I think we can be pretty close on Saturday.
"I'm pleased with the cars rhythm and set-up which gives me confidence. I don't think we need to do too much to the car set-up wise at the moment, just a couple of small tweaks overnight perhaps."
Last year's race winner Lewis Hamilton, who had topped the morning season ahead of Vettel, failed to improve on that time in the afternoon and trailed Vettel by more than a second in eighth, with teammate Valtteri Bottas 10th.
The result left Hamilton somewhat miffed although team boss Toto Wolff had indicated a different car set-up for the second session had been to blame.
"We didn't have the greatest day today," Hamilton said.
"Practice one was actually really good and we were quickest, but then in second practice we just struggled to extract the grip from the tyres and we were sliding around a lot.
"We've got some work to do ahead of Saturday."
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