Daniel Ricciardo is confident his team are making significant progress towards fighting with Mercedes and Ferrari after claiming his fifth straight podium of 2017 in Austria.

The Australian was once again left as the sole RB13, as team-mate Max Verstappen had clutch issues before being taken out at Turn 1, but he is carrying that torch well as he just stayed in touch with leaders Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel before holding off a fast-approaching Lewis Hamilton on quicker tyres in the closing laps.

Ricciardo was clearly elated as he roared down the radio on the lap back to the pits in celebration and later he would admit the performance he extracted to achieve third place made it particularly special.

"I think that's probably the biggest satisfaction with today," he claimed.

"Don't get me wrong, the kind of relief over the finish line was for sure for the podium but I'd say the biggest happiness for today is that we had raw pace.

"Obviously Baku was a victory, but things happen in the race, today we earned a podium on a circuit which for sure isn't our strength," he added, suggesting the Austria result was more important.

"The car is certainly getting there and it's all I can ask for."

Lewis Hamilton would acknowledge the "fantastic" pace the Red Bull showed, but there was one moment at the end when it looked as if the Briton was set to dash the hopes of the thousands of fans wearing dark blue at the Red Bull Ring.

"The second-last lap I didn't get the best exit out of Turn 1 and he got a good run, so I defended into Turn 3, and then I knew he had DRS so I had to defend into Turn 4," Ricciardo explained.

"It got pretty close but I just stuck to my braking points and when I thought the limit was and held [him] off."

As a result, the Aussie now sits pretty comfortably in fourth in the Drivers' standings, 24 points clear of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth with two races where the Milton Keynes outfit will be stronger at Silverstone and Hungaroring before the Summer break.