The last 10 laps of the Belgian Grand Prix were painful for Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, as he fell from P7 down to P14 by the race end. But the Australian admitted afterwards that he was surprised to have even seen the chequered flag, such was the damage he’d suffered during a shunt on Lap 1.

A ripple effect of the chaos at the start of the Grand Prix saw Ricciardo get clattered into by the Racing Point of Lance Stroll. Ricciardo pitted immediately – and, so he thought, for good – before Renault waved him on his way again, and had battled up to seventh by Lap 33 when his medium tyres threw in the towel, leaving the Australian to drop drastically down the order.

READ MORE: The Winners and Losers of the Belgian Grand Prix

“I don’t know how we even put ourselves in a top 10 position,” said Ricciardo after the race. “There was a lot of damage on the floor, and I thought we were just going to retire the car after that lap, but we persisted and [I was] running in seventh for a while and holding on. To be honest, I felt like I was driving very well, if I want to pat myself on the back. I really felt like I was doing everything I could with a pretty hurt car and we did well to hold on. But then at the end it was tough.”