Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo says it was “good” to capitalise on the late safety car restart during the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Australian driver was running fifth after his team-mate Max Verstappen retired in the early stages of the race.
He was some way off the leading four drivers, but moved up a position after Kimi Raikkonen’s stop/go penalty for failing to slow for double waved yellows.
Ricciardo was brought back into contention for a podium with the late safety car caused by debris on track from the Force India drivers colliding.
Red Bull pitted Ricciardo and he went onto the ultra-soft tyres, while the two Mercedes drivers were switched onto the softs.
On the restart, Ricciardo put his ultra-softs to good use and passed Valtteri Bottas on the back straight, using the slipstream and superior grip.
He was pleased to capitalise on that surprising opportunity and take another podium finish.
“Max dropped out early so firstly, I know it’s pretty much full of ‘Dutchies’ but thanks for hanging around,” he told the crowds on the podium.
“Kimi [Raikkonen] had a penalty so we got into fourth place. I had good pace mid-way through the race, and then we got the safety car.
So, I knew we had been given a bit of an opportunity and it was good to capitalise on that with Valtteri at the restart.”
