Chasing from behind on Sunday, Daniel Ricciardo was moving nicely up the order when the Red Bull driver’s charge was suddenly halted by what Renault has identified as a clutch issue.

Red Bull elected to install a brand new Spec-C Renault power unit in the Aussie’s RB14, a change that came with an unavoidable grid penalty but which would strategically set him up nicely for Singapore.

The demotion took nothing away from Ricciardo’s determination to put in a good effort in the race as his early progress and a few signature overtaking moves clearly showed.

Disgruntled Verstappen labels Bottas penalty ‘unfair’

However, it all came to an end after 23 laps, just as Ricciardo was eying a spot in the points.

“I passed Stroll into Turn 1, then out of the corner, I looked in the mirrors to see if I was clear of him,” he recounted.

“I couldn’t see that well and that’s when I realised there was smoke coming out of the back. I mentioned that straight away and they said stop.”

A preliminary analysis of the issue by Renault confirmed that Ricciardo’s retirement was not engine related, but linked to a clutch failure.

“It’s been a frustrating period of races but hopefully we can change some things on the car, improve the reliability and aim for the podium in Singapore.”

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter