Daniel Ricciardo scored back-to-back second place finishes for Red Bull as Formula One returned from its Summer break in Belgium.
The Australian started from fifth on the grid after a couple of mistakes on both his final qualifying runs and three places behind his young teammate Max Verstappen. Ricciardo avoided a collision at the start between Verstappen and the two Ferrari drivers to run in the top three early on.
The race was briefly red-flagged following a huge accident for Kevin Magnussen at the exit of Eau Rouge which required the barriers to be repaired. Following the restart, Ricciardo had a fairly comfortable run to finish second without being able to challenge race leader Nico Rosberg but able to stay ahead of the charging defending champion Lewis Hamilton.
On the podium, fellow Australian Mark Webber asked the Red Bull driver how he felt about saving the tyres but managing to split the two Mercedes: “It was cool, it was pretty messed up at the start, there was a lot of virtual safety cars and then the red flag.” Ricciardo responded. “We knew we had a bit of damage actually from the front corner but we fixed the front wing and got back out. It was a bit of a race by myself but obviously I enjoyed the pace and obviously to keep Lewis behind was a good achievement today.”
Ricciardo now sits comfortably third in the Driver’s Championship with 151 points and 36 clear of Verstappen who remains sixth after failing to score points in Belgium.
