Ricciardo claims first podium finish

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo finished third at the Spanish GP behind winner Lewis Hamilton. Source: Mark Thompson / Getty Images

AUSTRALIAN driver Daniel Ricciardo claimed his first podium finish in Formula One as the Mercedes team dominated the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.

Lewis Hamilton took over the championship lead by winning his fourth straight race ahead of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

Ricciardo was third in his Red Bull, followed by his four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Ricciardo finished the season-opening Australian GP in third place but had the result taken away by a technical infringement by his Red Bull team.

Hamilton's 26th career win gave him 100 points after five races, three more than Rosberg, who closed to within one second of his teammate late but again couldn't find his way past his main rival.

Hamilton hasn't led the championship since June 2012 after winning the Canadian GP with McLaren.

Ricciardo leads Lotus' French driver Romain Grosjean at the Circuit de Catalunya. Source: AFP

The race began in balmy, but slightly more humid conditions after overnight rain. The track temperature was 37 degrees Celsius and the air 24 shortly before the lights went out.

At the start, the two Mercedes made a clean joint departure while behind them Finn Valtteri Bottas moved forward to claim third ahead of Ricciardo on the run to the first corner, the longest start straight of the season.

Hamilton opened up a 1.1 sec lead on the first lap as the two Mercedes pulled clear of the field by around a second a lap. By the end of lap two, his lead over Rosberg was 1.9 sec, a gap that he struggled to increase.

Rosberg remained determinedly on Hamilton's tail through the early laps as Vettel, from 15th at the start, worked his way to 13th before making an early pit-stop on lap 13, emerging at the back of the field to start a renewed charge.

As this unfolded, Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado added to the Lotus team's repair bill and frustrations by colliding with Swedish rookie Marcus Ericsson's Caterham. He damaged the car and collected a five-second penalty.

Nice Rosberg sprays champagne all over winner and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. Source: AP

Ricciardo, in the second Red Bull, pitted after 15 laps and had to wait until Bottas came in six laps later to take third place, by which time Hamilton, on lap 19, and most of the rest, had also been in.

That gave Rosberg the lead from lap 19 to 22 when the original order was restored, but with the Briton, on the harder tyres offered by Pirelli, and the German continuing on the softer option.

Rosberg's first pit stop, in 2.9 sec, was a full second faster than Hamilton's, but once the chase resumed, he found it difficult to prevent the Englishman from opening up a lead that reached 4.5 sec by lap 30.

Hamilton had complained of oversteer. "My rear end is everywhere," he radioed to the team on lap 29 — but it appeared to have little effect.

By lap 32, when Rosberg produced a fastest lap to cut the gap to 4.1 sec, the front pair were nearly 25 sec clear of third-placed Ricciardo and Hamilton's lead seemed stabilised at more than four seconds.

Hamilton leads from the start of the race with the burning tyres causing a smoky beginning. Source: AFP

In the 'others' race for third place and beyond, Vettel reached the top 10 by half-distance and maintained a consistent and aggressive pace as he worked his way into the top six.

After their respective second stops after laps 43 and 45, in which Rosberg again 1.3 sec in the pits, Hamilton emerged with a lead of 4.6 sec. Rosberg cut into it rapidly and as the laps counted down, with just a handful to go, it was cut to less than two seconds.

A dramatic conclusion was inevitable when, with six laps remaining, the gap was only 1.2 sec and Vettel was closing, from fifth, on Bottas while Alonso was attacking Ferrari teammate Raikkonen for sixth.

"Think about your overtaking strategy," his race engineer told Rosberg as Hamilton remained ahead by 1.2 sec. Almost immediately, Alonso schemed a passage past Raikkonen in a thrilling multi-move overtake.

As they began the final lap, Hamilton led by just four-tenths. Rosberg cut that to just four car lengths and threatened a thrilling victory over the line, but the Briton hung on to triumph by just half a second.

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