Daniel Ricciardo continued his extraordinary maiden season with Red Bull by putting in another clinical and supremely thorough performance to win the Belgian Grand Prix.
For the third time this year, Ricciardo, found the key to lowering the colours of the Mercedes-Benz operation.
After victories at Montreal and Hungary, Ricciardo demonstrated his extraordinary qualities at Spa where Mercedes should have been the dominant squad.
As championship leader Nico Rosberg was left to claim a close but nonetheless disappointing second, Ricciardo had shown the Renault-powered Red Bull squad had crucially found extra raw pace.
While the clash between Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton clearly did not help the Mercedes cause, Red Bull has shown it can also capitalise on circuits where the team would not have dared to be a threat not too long ago.
The real acid test as to whether Red Bull can continue to prove a headache for the three-pointed star operation is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza where a large portion of the lap is under full throttle.
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Ricciardo’s Spa win moves him to 156 points where he remains in a healthy third position on the points table behind Rosberg’s 220 and Hamilton’s 191.
There are enough points in the remaining seven races which include the double-points structure at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from November 21-23 for Ricciardo to remain a title chance.
As the bitter inter-team rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg reached another low point at Spa, Mercedes is beginning to look more vulnerable to friendly fire.
If the situation within the Brackley team continues to worsen it will clearly play into the hands of Ricciardo.
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