Daniel Ricciardo will start the Miami Grand Prix last on the grid - just a day after finishing fourth in the Sprint race.
The Aussie got off to a perfect start on Saturday as he converted his grid position into his first points of the season. He couldn't get the better of Sergio Perez in the faster Red Bull, but defended admirably to keep hold of fourth place ahead of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
After that result, the relieved racer said : "Every big result feels like it's a needed one. It's a happy feeling, a powerful feeling. Also to back up qualifying, it was obviously great but to back it up over the course of a Sprint race that's even more satisfying. So it feels very good and it's nice to also keep a few people quiet."
Those precious points will have made Ricciardo hungry for more in Sunday's main event. But he will have his work cut out to finish in the top 10 considering he is doomed to start the race in last place.
Ricciardo just couldn't find the pace and suffered a Q1 exit, going only 18th fastest of the 20 drivers. To make matter worse, a three-place grid drop which carried over from the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago moved him down to bottom of the classification.
Having spoken just a few hours before about how much better he felt about his car with its new chassis, the 34-year-old was left complaining about a lack of tyre grip at the back of his RB. "F***, I had no rear," he lamented over the radio after learning he was out in the first part of qualifying.
Ricciardo was left looking for answers and cut a frustrated figure as he spoke to F1 TV about his disappointing result. He said: "It's one of those things - in this sport it can change so quickly.
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"Already, coming out of turn one, I started sliding and had a wobble into seven and went wide. It was a spiral. What was strange was that it started at the start of the lap, so it's one of those things in this sport - it treats you nice, until it doesn't.
"We'll look into it, but everything seemed fine approaching the lap. We simply didn't have the grip on that second set [of tyres]. We're not an 18th-placed car and hopefully we can understand why the tyres sometimes behave the way that they do."
Ricciardo's penalty was given in Shanghai two weeks ago after he was found guilty of overtaking under safety car conditions. But because he didn't finish the race, after he was taken out by Lance Stroll, a grid drop for this Grand Prix in Miami was seen as a more appropriate punishment than a meaningless time penalty.