Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull has explained the decisions it made in Spain and accepts there was "no agenda" behind the race strategy.

Ricciardo looked best placed to win in Spain after Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided on the opening lap. The common consensus before the race was that a three-stopper was quickest and Red Bull placed Ricciardo on that strategy to counter the lead Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

Both teams switched to the alternate strategy for their other driver, meaning Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen went on to the two-stop. However it soon became clear that was the better strategy, meaning the grid's youngest and oldest driver fought for the win in the closing stages.

While his new Red Bull teammate eventually prevailed for a maiden win, Ricciardo did not even end up on the podium and admitted a "bitter" feeling after the race.

Asked on Wednesday if he felt tricked by the strategy, Ricciardo said: "No. Sure I was disappointed, and it obviously sucked, the outcome, to have a win and then not even a podium from a potential victory.

"I spoke a lot with the team and had a lot of explanations, the reasons why we pitted, and basically at the time it seemed like the three stop was the best thing to do. And at the time they thought Seb was our biggest challenger for the victory, so with me they tried to cover him.

"They thought that the three stop was going to be the best, so they basically put the race against Seb and tried to stay in front. What also hurt on top of that was Seb going really short in that second last stint, so it meant not only did he undercut me, but then his tyres were not actually that fresh towards the end of the race, so he could not make much of a difference to Max and Kimi.

"So it was a combination of them thinking a three stop would have worked, but also they didn't believe that the two stop would have worked as well as it did. So it didn't fall in my favour, but that obviously sucked. But there was no other agenda behind it."

The Australian brushed off the observation some might have that he was beaten by a driver having his first weekend in the car, saying he did not want to take anything away from Verstappen's maiden win.

"What fans are saying or the media are saying, I don't let it control me. Even if the strategy had not worked for Max, he still did a really good race and even if we all had a three-stop he still would have got a podium in his first race with the team.

"He had already done a really good weekend and shown that he had adapted really quickly so I wouldn't take anything away from Max. Obviously what he has done has been great and to then win and make the tyres last was really good.

"There are still many races to go and many more opportunities hopefully for us to get on the podium and fight for wins. But I still believe a lot in my ability."