Daniel Ricciardo believes the intense challenge posed by new team-mate Max Verstappen is helping Red Bull close the gap to Mercedes.

Red Bull scored its first double podium of the season as Ricciardo followed Lewis Hamilton home in second, while Verstappen secured third at Hockenheim.

The pair managed to hold off the pole-sitting Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and emerged as the Silver Arrows’ nearest rivals after comfortably beating the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Red Bull’s turn of pace has come as a pleasant surprise to Ricciardo, who feels the team is benefitting from a hard fought intra-team rivalry between himself and Verstappen.

The Milton Keynes operation has now moved ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings with a 14 point margin.

“We went into Budapest thinking this would be our best chance for the next few races, but we were both ahead of the pole-sitter (Nico Rosberg) today and we had genuine race pace,” said Ricciardo following his 100th F1 race.

“I believe myself and Max (Verstappen) are pushing each other to another level.

“I always felt I was pushing myself as hard as I could but maybe we are finding a bit more out of it (the car). It is good that we are all pushing in the right direction.”

Strategy proved key in Ricciardo’s run to second having occupied third in the early stages after losing a spot to Verstappen at the start.

However, two impressive stints on the super-soft tyres allowed the Australian to catch and pass his team-mate to claim second.

“I’m very happy with the end result. The first few seconds off the start I was very happy and I was immediately into second,” added Ricciardo.

“But a few seconds later Max went around the outside and to be honest I was disappointed with myself for letting that happen.

“The super-softs in the last two stints was where we really had pace. I was starting to get more and more comfortable with the car.”

Ricciardo’s third podium of the year ensures the Perth racer maintains third spot in the championship ahead of the mid-season break.