F1 fans in disbelief over Daniel Ricciardo drama at Hungarian GP

Daniel Ricciardo just can't catch a break this F1 season, after his initial promise in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix faded into yet another forgettable result.

McLaren are locked in a bitter tussle for fourth in the constructor's championship with Ricciardo's former team Alpine, but so far this season it's been the Aussie's teammate Lando Norris scoring the lion's share of the team's points.

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After ongoing struggles getting to grips with the 2022 car, Ricciardo looked to have rediscovered his opportunistic best behind the wheel thanks to a brilliant overtaking move on Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

An early visit to pitlane had dropped Ricciardo back to 12th, but by lap 24 he'd caught up to the Alpine duo, before capitalising as Alonso and Ocon bickered over 10th and 11th place.

Ricciardo perfectly placed his McLaren to knife down the inside of both Alpine drivers at turns two and three, elevating him into the points.

It was clearly a satisfying moment for the beleagured 33-year-old, who let out a triumphant 'Let's f***ing go' over the team radio after making the move.

Unfortunately though, his luck ran out on lap 48.

Tussling with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll for seventh and eighth place, Ricciardo understeered wide at turn two and nudged the Canadian driver into a spin, costing him a five second time penalty.

A subsequent pitstop for hard tyres left Ricciardo lacking pace and at the mercy of the rest of the midfield, with the likes of Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel also breezing past the McLaren in the closing stages of the race.

It was a bitter disappointment for Ricciardo, who had otherwise put together a strong performance on track until the collision with Stroll.

Fans on social media felt for the Aussie star after another misfortune derailed a chance for crucial points.

Ricciardo F1 woes continue as Max Verstappen wins in Hungary

While it was an unfortunate case of more of the same for Ricciardo, F1 championship leader Max Verstappen will enter the mid-season break riding a wave of momentum after winning from 10th on the grid.

Verstappen crossed the line 7.8 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton on Sunday, following a late surge from the seven-time world champion, with George Russell third.

Leclerc finished sixth and now trails Verstappen by 80 points heading into the sport's summer break.

Verstappen's victory was the 28th of the Dutchman's career.

"Who would have thought when we woke up today we'd get this result? Amazing," Verstappen told his team, letting out a laugh.

"I was battling a lot of guys and it was a lot of fun out there. That was a crazy race but (we) stayed calm and we won."

After overcoming 30 laps of pole man Russell's resistance to take the lead with a brilliant move around the outside of the Mercedes at Turn 1, Leclerc looked on course to take the chequered flag.

But the Monegasque's afternoon was wrecked - and his championship hopes dealt an almost irreversible blow - when Ferrari elected to put their star driver on the hardest rubber.

From being the fastest man on track, Leclerc suddenly had no speed, and he was gobbled up by Verstappen, who started 10th, at the start of lap 40.

Verstappen spun at the penultimate corner on the same lap to allow Leclerc back into the lead.

But such was his lack of pace on a strategy dismissed by tyre supplier Pirelli, Verstappen was back past the Ferrari, racing past his beleaguered rival at the second corner five laps later.

From there, Verstappen's eighth win of his championship defence never appeared in danger with a second title in as many years looking increasingly likely.

With AAP

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