Hamilton’s

finish off the podium and lose further ground to Vettel in the title race.

Hamilton will now head into the sport’s summer break 14 points behind Vettel in this most topsy-turvy of championship battles.

Hamilton started only fourth on the grid and he was down to sixth following the 610-metre dash to the opening corner after he was gobbled up by both Red Bull drivers.

Max Verstappen made his move round the outside of Hamilton, with Daniel Ricciardo diving underneath the British driver.

Verstappen however, ran wide at Turn 1. He rejoined the circuit alongside Ricciardo and at the left-handed Turn 2 the Dutchman went in too hot on his brakes and inexplicably thudded into his Red Bull team-mate.

The force of the impact tore through Ricciardo’s Red Bull bodywork and into the radiator, and the Australian spun on his own fluid before grinding to a halt.

Ricciardo was furious: “Was that who I think it was?” “Yes,” his Red Bull team replied. “Sore loser.”

“It was amateur to say the least,” Ricciardo said on his return to the paddock. “There was no room to pass. Valtteri was in front and I was on the outside so there was no room.

“You’ve got the whole race to try and repair the mistake but the pass was never on. It wasn’t even a pass. It was a very poor mistake.

“There isn’t an excuse for it. He sees me go past and thinks ‘I’ve got to fix this’ and then we crash.”

The safety car was deployed to deal with Ricciardo’s stricken car, and Verstappen, who escaped the incident without any damage, was handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

Four laps later the safety car