Ricciardo took the lead after pulling two brave overtaking moves on lap 67 and 68 to move from third to first. Fernando Alonso held on for an equally impressive second place in the Ferrari ahead of the warring Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, which were both involved in a four-way battle for the lead in the closing stages.

Alonso looked set to end a 15-month victory drought for Ferrari, but ultimately found a mammoth 32-lap final stint on a set of soft Pirelli tyres too much and thus had to settle for second.

Hamilton reduced the points gap to title rival Nico Rosberg by taking an unlikely podium finish after a pitlane start, just fending off his Mercedes team-mate over the final lap as he battled to the finish on a well-worn set of medium tyres.

Hamilton survived a brush with the barrier after spinning at Turn 2 on the first lap, and also courted intra-team controversy by holding up team-mate Rosberg during his final stint despite radio requests to let him through.

The timing of Ericsson’s crash was particularly bad for the early top four – Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and Alonso – as it came just after they had passed the pitlane entry. With the quartet therefore having to complete an additional lap at a controlled speed, while the cars behind were able to pit, Rosberg fed back to the track in fourth place.