Ricciardo reckons he 'could have been up there' in Hungary

Daniel Ricciardo believes he could have delivered a big result in Hungary had he been spared a hit in the race's opening lap mayhem.

Ricciardo was collateral damage at the first corner in last Sunday's race as a result of Lance Stroll's clumsy run-in with Charles Leclerc that led to the Ferrari driver hitting and spinning around the Aussie's McLaren.

But for a brief moment, Ricciardo thought that he had avoided the worst.

"For a moment I thought I got through the chaos in Turn 1," Ricciardo said. "The start itself was good, I think I got two or three off the line.

"Then I saw Valtteri [Bottas] go into Lando who went into Max [Verstappen] at the start. I was able to get through that in second and I honestly felt like I got through it.

"Just as I went to exit the corner on power I saw Charles come into me and he spun me around. The way he came into me I thought someone had gone into him, because we were kind of through the corner and it seemed weird.

"He damaged his car, damaged mine, I spun, and that was that.

"I saw the replay and Stroll went into him and then he went into me, the team tried to tape up as much as they could, but it was very compromised on the right-hand side.

"We don’t have the fastest car so with some compromises it obviously hurts. With a tricky track to pass it was hard to do anything."

• Read also: Norris expected 'a little bit more' from 'top guy' Bottas

With Norris' McLaren out of the race following the first corner pile-up, Ricciardo was the team's sole representative. Mid-way through the race, the Aussie had settled into the points in P10 but couldn't fend off a late charger from Verstappen.

"There were parts where I could hang on to the cars ahead, but with the car damage we had, and the difficulty overtaking here, it really just limited our race," he said.

"In the end, the tyres were gone, and it was just about trying to hang on for dear life, but I couldn’t hang on to the points.

"It looked very promising, but now, when you look at the race and the chaotic results, you realise you could’ve been up there, but unfortunately not.

"We were one of the many that just got unlucky through no fault of our own."

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