World championship leader Hamilton was forced to start from 21st place after taking technical grid penalties, and despite the Briton cutting a swathe through the field, one pit stop too many proved costly in the race to catch the leaders.

The opening lap proved the adage that three cars do not go into one corner and come out racing, as the Ferarris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen all fought for space and paid the price.

Vettel appeared the man at fault, turning into his teammate, who skittered into Verstappen, ruining his race.

Verstappen then became a thorn in Ferrari's side. The Dutch teenager, who had become the youngest driver to start on the front row of a Grand Prix, ended up racing wheel-to-wheel with Raikkonen and then Vettel down the back of the field.

Later it was Vettel's turn to swap places and bang wheels with the Red Bull as Verstappen proved again that he's going to be a major force in years to come.

Ultimately the Ferarris had the final word in the stoush, with Vettel finishing sixth, Raikkonen ninth and Verstappen 11th.

Ricciardo had started the Grand Prix from fifth and began slowly off the line, appearing to be content to sit back in the knowledge he was on longer run soft tyres, and even conceded an early second place to Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.

Having started on soft tyres, by lap six the Australian was complaining about struggling for grip on his front wheels. Within the next minute the race would change completely as Renault driver Kevin Magnussen lost control on the high speed Raidillon section, flying backwards into the tyre wall at the top of the hill.

The Danish driver suffered a cut foot and was taken to hospital for test, with the resulting red flag stopping the race and bringing tyre strategy to the fore.

After the restart it didn't take long for Rosberg and Ricciardo to settle into first and second place and for Hamilton to start carving up the field. By lap 18 Hamilton was in third, but that was as close as he'd get.

When the flag fell Ricciardo was 14.113 seconds behind Rosberg, with Hamilton 13 seconds further back.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton still leads the drivers' title on 232 ahead of Rosberg on 223 and Australia's man a clear third with 151.

In the winners' room after the race the two Mercedes drivers kept their game face, hardly acknowledging each other, leaving Ricciardo to stare down the barrel of the television camera, offer his trademark grin and say: "Good times".