Ricciardo took surprising victory at F1 Chinese GP

At the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.

Two collisions on the track have changed the game and it's Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who took a surprising victory in a chaotic race in Shanghai.

It's a dramatic race in Shanghai.

The main rivalry had been focused on Mercedes and Ferrari, which got the first four pole positions in the qualifying.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas surpassed Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at the start into the very first corner, suggesting another title competition between the two top teams.

However, after two surprising collisions, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo grabbed the opportunity to pass five cars and took the lead.

A collision between Toro Rosso cars brought the safety car on the circuit, during which Red Bull chose to pit for fresh tyres.

This gave them a huge advantage for the rest of the race.

Ricciardo obtained his sixth career win and first victory in China.

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo of Australia raises his trophy as he celebrates after winning the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, Sunday, April 15, 2018. At right is Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland who finished second.[Photo: AP]

"I'm sitting here reciting everything in my head what just happened. It's this sport's crazy. A week ago I was with my head down after two laps on Sunday. Yeah frustrated at the sport, frustrated ar all the variables that are involved in the sport. Sometimes I questioin why I chose this sport because there's so many other things out of your control and it does get you down a lot- but then when you have a day like this it's worth fifty of those bad ones."

Ricciardo's team-mate Max Verstappen has had the tyre advantage too. But he threw away his chances with over-optimistic driving.

The Hungarian collided with the second placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari when he tried to attack on the German after surpassing Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen was penalised by 10 seconds for causing the collision.

Bottas finished second. During the race he overtook Vettel by pit stops and topped the position for a few laps.

However the safety car broke down their strategies and dragged his paces.

"The race was going pretty well for us and we were looking strong all the way, until the guys, during the safety car stopped and we were in trouble then with Daniel and nearly with Kimi in the end. It's disappointing. We were giving everything we had and it kind of felt like we deserved victory...but not today."

Ferrari's Raikkonen had an up-and -down run, as the Finn started second and dropped to sixth, before he finally chased back to the podium.

"I think today a lot of the end results depended on whether you had better tyres than others, when you could offset yourself to the others. Obviously it's part of the game. A big part of the game. And here it made a big difference. And safety car playing in there. I think it's nice like that, for everyone to watch because nobody really knows, everybody would love to know nobody really has because it changes from race to race. And such a small difference makes a big difference in the end results."

Raikkonen's teammate Vettel only ended up at the eighth place after the collision with Verstappen.

The result means Vettel's lead in the championship over Hamilton has been cut to nine points.

But let's not forget the new challenger in the room: Red Bull's Ricciardo has quietly climbed to the fourth place in overall ranking.