The 24-year-old West Australian overtook championship leader Nico Rosberg of Mercedes with four laps to go to claim victory.

Ricciardo took advantage of power problem which affected both Mercedes cars and forced Lewis Hamilton to retire from the race.  

Rosberg managed to nurse his car home in second place ahead of defending world champion, and Ricciardo's teammate, Sebastian Vettel in third.

The final lap of the race was run behind a safety car after a horrifying high-speed collision between Mexican Sergio Perez of Force India and Brazilian Felipe Massa of Williams saw them fly in to the barriers and both drivers seemingly lucky to escape serious injury.

Ricciardo becomes the fourth Australia to win a Formula One race and was almost lost for words following the win.

"I am shocked - this is ridiculous," he said.

The win means Ricciardo has now beaten Vettel in the last five races

Jenson Button was fourth for McLaren ahead of Nico Hulkenberg for Force India and Fernando Alonso for Ferrari.

Valtteri Bottas for Williams, Jean-Eric Vergne for Toro Rosso, Kevin Magnussen for McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari rounded out the top 10.

Nico Rosberg now leads the drivers championship with 140 points ahead of Hamilton on 118. Ricciardo is now third with 79 points.