Red Bull has admitted that it feared Daniel Ricciardo would have to retire from the Singapore Grand Prix due to a gearbox issue, which he had to preserve for the bulk of the 58-lap race.
Ricciardo started from third place on the grid and initially lost out to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, but profited when Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen and Max Verstappen came to blows.
Ricciardo moved into second, behind Hamilton, where he remained throughout the remainder of proceedings, to rack up his fourth straight Singapore podium.
However, Red Bull later revealed that a mechanical gremlin led to concerns that Ricciardo would not see the chequered flag.
“Daniel started to lose an awful lot of gearbox oil, which created a lot of problems with oil pressure, and we were feeling that it was looking unlikely that Daniel would get to the end of the race,” said team boss Christian Horner.
“However he managed to nurse the gearbox of the car incredibly well for three-quarters of the Grand Prix.
"Though able to hold off any threat from behind from Valtteri [Bottas], unfortunately he could not attack Lewis ahead."
Ricciardo added: "I was just advised to do some short shifts from fairly early in the race and I was then reminded to continue to do that up to the end.
"I don't think it changed the shape of the race; I don't think that was the reason that we were second and not first."
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