China "equal best race of my career"

Ricciardo jumped past Nico Rosberg to claim the lead on the first lap, only to suffer a puncture early on the third.

He was 17th when the race resumed after the safety car period.

But the Red Bull driver recovered to his third consecutive fourth-place finish.

"A missed opportunity, but nothing was in our hands," he said. "I took every opportunity I could out there, and I was just unlucky. I was leading and got a puncture.

"Obviously Rosberg had the strategy in his favour, so I think we would have finished second today. I won't say we would have won, because Rosberg was too strong, but second was there.

"Forgetting the unlucky part I think the race was 10 out of 10 from my side. I recovered, I got my head down, the team executed good pitstops, we got out on track when we needed to, and pushed through the traffic.

"Overall, I'm super happy with my race. It was probably the equal best race of my career."

Ricciardo said the Red Bull team has got its mojo back after a disappointing 2015.

"We've built on getting that back, the second half of last year. The team really turned tit around, and that was really refreshing to see.

"This year we've started off on an even better footing. Definitely the vibe is somewhat like '14, and it feels good.

"We're getting there. We're definitely closing in, and if we keep closing in at this rate it's going to be a pretty spicy rest of the year.

"I'm ready, and obviously I proved that today. When the opportunity arises, we'll take it."