A daring move by Daniel Ricciardo helped snare him his sixth Formula One podium finish for the season at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Triumphant once more was Britain's Lewis Hamilton, with Sebastian Vettel second, but Australian Ricciardo's bold driving meant he left his mark at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Red Bull's Ricciardo jumped from sixth on the grid and made just one pass throughout the race, a daring move on Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas off a safety car restart.
A penalty for Kimi Raikkonen and engine failure for Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen handed the Australian third place.
"Max had a problem and then Kimi made his mistake with the yellow flag as we gained a few positions, but I think after the first stint our pace improved a lot," Ricciardo said.
"We showed a more respectable pace today and then we had an opportunity under the safety car with the restart and took the most of that. So I'm really happy with the result."
Hamilton celebrated his record-equalling 68th pole position with the victory in Belgium on Sunday, trimming championship leader Sebastian Vettel's lead to seven points.
Ricciardo sits fourth on the standings and 47 points behind Bottas with eight races remaining.
Hamilton clinched his fifth win of the season and 58th overall, having equalled Michael Schumacher's pole record on Saturday.
Vettel finished second in Sunday's 44-lap race, 2.3sec behind Hamilton.
"Sebastian was very, very close. He was very consistent throughout," said Hamilton, after his 200th GP. "That's what racing's about."
Ricciardo filled out the podium ahead of Ferrari's Raikkonen, with Bottas fifth.
Hamilton was in good form all weekend, topping every part of qualifying.
"Really brilliant," Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff said.
"Hamilton's drive was really fantastic."
Although it was a comfortable win for the British driver, it got a bit tense toward the end.
"I was waiting for Lewis to make a mistake and he didn't," Vettel said.
The Spa track, nestled in the Ardennes forest, is the longest in F1 at seven kilometres and the race is often full of incident, especially when it rains.
It stayed dry, but there was one heated clash between Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, prompting the safety car to come out after they made contact with each other on lap 30, sending debris onto the track.
The Formula One season continues at the Italian GP this weekend.
Share
