Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo clinched his third victory of the season, but his Belgian Grand Prix triumph will inevitably be overshadowed by the latest fall-out between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
A collision left the unfortunate Hamilton with a left-rear puncture that effectively ended his race as he retired on lap 39 with damage to his Mercedes, while Rosberg went on to claim second place and stretch his lead over the Briton to 29 points.
For all of Hamilton's positivity coming into the race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, believing his luck had finally turned, the 29-year-old will need some consoling given his disconsolate nature from his radio messages.
Ricciardo has been the breakout star of F1 this season
The ruthless Rosberg was booed as he stepped onto the podium at Spa.
Rosberg - who finished second - heard loud booing from spectators as he took his place on the podium before saying: "I got a good run on Lewis and tried to go around the outside.
"But we touched, which hurt both of our races, which from a team point of view is very disappointing."
Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda pulled no punches when it came to declaring who he felt was in the wrong as he said: "I said sorry to (Hamilton). It's bad, no question about it.
"Lewis was clearly in the lead, and maybe you do this at the end, but not on the second lap. These things can happen, but why on the second lap?
"We will have a meeting and decide what we will do, but it's a bad result for Mercedes and Lewis."