Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo said it was always his team's plan for him to do one run in Qualifying yesterday due to the grid penalties that were coming his way for Sunday.
Ricciardo's one quickest lap was enough for him to get himself into Q2 but then the Aussie did not return to participate in the second qualifying session.
The Red Bull man admitted that he would have returned to drive again if he was a contender for the pole position, but Ferrari and Mercedes were much faster this weekend, so he didn't.
"We will be starting on the back or second to back row tomorrow, so we decided that putting more miles on the new engine wasn't worth risking," Ricciardo said to the Checkered Flag.
"If we thought we had the chance of setting a pole time, even with the penalties, then maybe we would have risked finishing Qualifying but the Ferraris and Mercs are too quick.
"I did one lap to get through Q1 and the new engine seemed to be running pretty well. One lap was fun, I would have loved more but this was always the plan."
Ricciardo revealed that Red Bull have taken as much downforce as possible to try and increase the speed of the car on the straights.
"This morning, we weren't that quick but we made some changes which seemed to work for this afternoon," Ricciardo added. "The lap I did was encouraging and having done that lap I have more confidence going into the race tomorrow, we have a better set-up and it should be fun."
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