The smiling Australian qualified fourth at the Hungaroring last year and went on to win the race for Red Bull against the odds.
He again made sure of fourth place on the starting grid.
"I was aware that I got fourth here last year in quali and then obviously won so today I could have got pole to be honest but I thought -- I’m very superstitious -- fourth was better," he joked.
Pole position, as he well knew, was a long way away.
With the Mercedes pairing of Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on the front row, and former Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel alongside in a Ferrari, Ricciardo will have his work cut out to secure his team's first podium finish of the season.
But he was not ruling it out.
"We’ve got a few things which can work in our advantage tomorrow," Ricciardo said.
"The circuit here helps us, but I really feel the updates have come to life a bit more here.
"I do feel already from yesterday morning when we left the garage, the car felt more together. I think I had more confidence, was able to lean on it a bit more, feel the car over the bumps, so it’s definitely showing signs of progress."
Red Bull, champions with Renault for four years in a row until the new V6 turbo hybrid engines came in last year and began a period of Mercedes dominance, are fourth overall.
However, Renault appear to have turned a corner as far as reliability is concerned, even if Ricciardo's engine blew up spectacularly in Friday practice.
That was an old unit, however, and the driver incurred no penalty.
"I guess it was inevitable at some stage," he said. "But now moving forward with the newer engines, on the reliability side they’re in better shape. So I don’t fear anything like that for the new engines."
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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