Ricciardo managed to finish third, just a whisker ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
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Max Verstappen held off Kimi Raikkonen to finish fifth.
As the race drew on, the fight for fifth was heading up with Raikkonen inching the nose of his Ferrari closer to Verstappen’s rear wing.
Fernando Alonso was the sole surviving McLaren in seventh.
How you view Ferrari’s performance in the Hungarian GP depends very much on whether you toe the party line. “Race from hell this is going to be”. “So, of course, I was focused on my race and they came very quickly, and I was trying to find the safest place to let him by”. The next round is the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim next weekend.
Yet, Hamilton was not in everyone’s good books following the race. A couple of races go towards one then the tide turns.
Mercedes swapped a number of mechanics from his championship-winning side of the garage to that of Rosberg’s ahead of the new campaign, and Hamilton also faces starting at least one of the remaining 10 races from the back of the grid under the sport’s complex engine rules.
Hamilton may now be in charge of the title race as he bids to become the first British driver to win the title on four occasions.
Rosberg drops down to second with 186 points while Ricciardo moves up to third with 115 points.
Hamilton said after the race that he did not think Rosberg had lifted enough, and that he would have struggled to stop if a vehicle or a marshal was on track. Hamilton’s lead was briefly challenged when he faced lapped traffic.
The duo were evenly matched on pace, but Red Bull Racing rolled the dice on Ricciardo’s track position with an aggressive undercut at his second stop.
Hamilton pitted shortly after, leaving Rosberg to lead, but the German came in a lap later as Hamilton returned to the front.
There were, though, a couple of nervous moments for Hamilton. When Gutierrez finally acknowledged the blue flag, both Hamilton and Rosberg flew past the Mexican with the leader giving the now lapped driver a not so friendly gesture.
Despite arguing he was driving to the best of his ability, Hamilton soon found pace, allowing Rosberg to also push and ensuring the duo finished one-two.
Until Sunday, Hamilton had shared the record for Hungary GP wins with seven times champion Michael Schumacher.
Ricciardo and Verstappen started together on the second row ahead of Vettel and maintained those positions through the first stint.
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Most drivers opted for the two pitstop strategy running on softs and then supersofts with the sun shining brightly throughout the 70 laps, even though the qualifying sessions were more of a slush fest.
