Podium achievable without retirement - Ricciardo

© XPB 

Daniel Ricciardo feels he missed out on a strong result in today's Belgian Grand Prix when the Australian's Red Bull was sidelined with mechanical troubles at half distance.

Ricciardo, who started in fifth position, was up to third at the end of the first lap, keeping pace with the surprisingly fast starting Force India of Sergio Perez, before Red Bull called their driver in for an early pit stop and a change to medium tyres after just seven laps.

"I joked about the new procedure but the start was actually good, " said Ricciardo. "We got the undercut over Perez but then we sort of got boxed in with Kimi and Perez got me back quite easily down the straight."

Although Daniel admittedly struggled a bit on the mediums during his second stint, conceding a position to Grosjean's very competitive Lotus, he still appeared to be on track for a strong result when the Red Bull's electrics appeared to cut out on lap 20 on the exit of the Bus Stop.

"We definitely had our sights set on a podium and put ourselves in that position at the start. It's easy to say now but I think we would have generally been in with the fight with Grosjean for the last spot on the podium. "

Click here for a gallery of the biggest crashes at Spa-Francorchamps 

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter