TAKING a swig of bubbly is usually a pretty positive experience for most people.

But not for Mark Webber.

Following Daniel Ricciardo’s second-placed effort at the Belgian Grand Prix on the weekend, former Aussie F1 star Webber joined him — as well as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton — on the podium to conduct some post-race interviews.

But Ricciardo wanted him to replace the microphone in his hand with something else, and he used some perfectly executed peer pressure to get what he wanted.

He filled up his boot with champagne and gave it to Webber, imploring him to perform a “shoey”. Much like the name suggests, that’s when you chug alcohol out of a shoe.

Only in Australia, right?

Ricciardo brought the unique celebration to the F1 world’s attention when he performed it after his podium finish at the German Grand Prix earlier this year. Webber clearly didn’t want to follow suit, saying: “There’s no way I’m drinking out of that mate.”

But he couldn’t say no to an enthusiastic Ricciardo and boisterous crowd forever, so chug from a shoe he did.

“(It was) not very nice,” Webber was quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “Look, I knew. When Daniel was up there I knew I will probably be under pressure to do a shoey.

“It did not taste so good, but anyway in the end it’s good fun. Daniel was in a moment, pumped up, full of adrenaline. I went with a moment for him.”

His P2 finish was the perfect way to start the second half of the F1 season, which recommenced in Spa after a four week summer break.

The West Australian now has four podium finishes in 2016, a welcome improvement on Red Bull’s horror 2015 in which they failed to win a race for the first time since 2008, and their star driver finished a lowly eighth, just one place ahead of now-demoted teammate Daniil Kvyat.

Red Bull also had plenty of dramas with engine providers Renault, and there was some doubt as to whether they would even be able to get on the track in 2016.

But that’s all a thing of the past, and Ricciardo said he’s happy with how the Renault power unit — rebadged as TAG Heuer during the off-season — is performing at this point of the season compared to last year.

“At the start of the year we went into Melbourne not really expecting much compared to the end of last year,” Ricciardo was quoted as saying by Autosport.com.

“But we came in with more horsepower, and then the update helped, and we’ve found a little bit more and a little bit more since then.

“It’s been a nice refreshing improvement on both sides — the chassis is working well with the power unit.

“We’re now pretty much on par with the 2016 Ferrari (engine), and that’s positive. They made a really big step last year.

“We’ve overtaken the 2015 Ferrari (power unit) that Toro Rosso have, so it’s good, it’s going in the right direction and that’s all we can ask for now.

“As long as we keep seeing improvements then we are going to take what we can.”

Red Bull now sits 22 points clear of Ferrari in the Constructors Championship, putting them second behind Mercedes, who are streets ahead thanks to the dominance of Rosberg and Hamilton.

But Ricciardo thinks the Scuderia will be favourites heading to Italy for the next grand prix at Monza.

“They should be the favourite to beat us at Monza,” he said. “But if we can beat them at Monza then that would be quite a good one for us ahead of going to Singapore and Suzuka which, on paper, should favour us more.

“But I’m not going to count them out. Seb (Vettel) can turn it on pretty well, as can Kimi (Raikkonen) on his day.

“We’re prepared to be in a fight with Mercedes, but we’re also prepared that Ferrari might join in on the action as well.”