Daniel Ricciardo said he was "relatively pleased" with sixth on the grid at Spa considering the fact Red Bull was "bleeding" speed in the first and third sectors.
Mercedes' power advantage became brutally clear in qualifying, with Ricciardo the only driver in the top eight with a different engine in his car. Red Bull has been quick all weekend in the twisty middle sector, which rewards downforce and suits the RB11, but off the pace on the longer straights at either end of the circuit.
Ricciardo, who will actually line up fifth for the grand prix after Romain Grosjean's gearbox change penalty is applied, admitted his qualifying performance could not have been much better.
"We are pretty close," Ricciardo said. "We obviously did not expect too much. We knew yesterday it looked a bit better than it probably was. We knew Williams and others would come forward today. To be sixth and pretty close to third, we are relatively pleased. We see how much we bleed on the straights, so to be able to carry that speed through sector 2 and then keep a good time, we are relatively happy with the day."
On Friday Ricciardo was running a 'Monza wing' on his car, designed to optimise Red Bull's straight-line speed at a circuit where power is key. Running that wing compromises Red Bull's strength in the middle sector, however, and Ricciardo opted against running it in qualifying.
Though he says it cost him around 5kmh on the straights Ricciardo thinks opting against the 'Monza wing' in qualifying was the right decision.
"I really wanted to make the Monza wing work because it is nice being fast on the straights, but when we put back on the Spa wing, the one Danny had for today, it did feel better and I got a lot more grip into sector two. So in hindsight we did the right thing."