Ricciardo stands tall in thrilling climax

Australian Daniel Ricciardo celebrated his first Formula One victory on Sunday in a Canadian Grand Prix that put Red Bull back on top of the podium and dealt Mercedes a first defeat of the season.

An afternoon of high drama at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ended behind the safety car after Brazilian Felipe Massa's Williams smashed into the back of Sergio Perez's Force India as they entered the final lap.

Ahead of them, Ricciardo cruised to the chequered flag with championship leader Nico Rosberg second for Mercedes after starting on pole position in what turned out to be a thriller in Montreal.

Last year's winner Sebastian Vettel, the quadruple world champion, was third for Red Bull.

"I'm still a bit in shock," beamed Ricciardo from the podium, where he was interviewed by 1995 Canadian GP winner Jean Alesi. "It's an amazing feeling right now."

Rosberg still stretched his lead to 22 points after team-mate Lewis Hamilton, his closest rival, retired with a rear brake problem.

"It's been a decent weekend and the points are important so I'm definitely pleased with that," said Rosberg, who won two weeks ago in Monaco.

He and Hamilton had fought wheel-to-wheel, their cars touching at the hairpin on lap 46, before the 2008 world champion suffered his second blank in seven races.

The Mercedes pair had built up a comfortable lead but reported power problems half way through the race, with Rosberg holding out until he was passed by Ricciardo with two laps to go.

"The boy has been brilliant all year," declared Red Bull boss Christian Horner. "It was an incredible drive. It's been a great team effort. We beat them (Mercedes) at the most unlikely track. We are closing the gap."

Until Sunday, Mercedes had won every race and finished one-two in the last five.
Red Bull, who won the last nine races of 2013 with Vettel, have been racing to catch up after engine partner Renault started the year on the back foot.

"It's the first time we have beaten Mercedes this year and we managed to get a victory," said Horner. "We're realists, we know we have a massive challenge ahead of us but there is still a long way to go in this championship. We're not even at the halfway point."

McLaren's Jenson Button, winner in Canada in 2011, benefited from the last lap chaos to take fourth followed by Nico Hulkenberg in a Force India and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Perez and Massa, who a few laps earlier had looked capable of getting on the podium, were both reported to be unscathed after their heavy impact with the barriers.

Hulkenberg fifth

Sahara Force India’s points-scoring spree continued following a fifth-place finish by Nico Hulkenberg even as his teammate Sergio Perez suffered a heavy crash on the final lap.

Perez, who almost pulled off team’s one stop strategy, was running fourth on Lap 70 when he was hit from behind by a charging Felipe Massa in the Williams going into Turn One.

The accident meant that the action-packed race finished behind the safety car. The crash helped Perez’s teammate Hulkenberg secure his second straight fifth place finish.