"Initially, I was like 'that's going to be a long one to the end', but we made it work," says Max Verstapen following podium finish in Hungary.

Throughout the weekend and into the race, fans were treated to the litany of problems the four-time world champion was suffering, from an ill-fitting seat, impossible downshifts, damping, balance through to Lewis Hamilton moving under braking.

None the less, despite it all, he brought his Red Bull home in second, claiming his second successive podium finish.

"I didn't expect to be on the podium today, but we worked hard for it," he admitted post-race. "I think the start was decent, you know, to get through Turns 1 and 2, and then after the first stop to get back ahead of Lewis under braking into Turn 1, I was just trying to survive on the compounds, trying to make the right calls with the strategy as well. So I am very happy to be second here."

A strong start saw the four-time world champion up to third by the end of the opening lap however, he then came under attack from Hamilton, who had Charles Leclerc close behind.

As opposed to his usual all-out attack strategy, Verstappen was forced into defence mode, though by the time of his second stop he was up to second, taking the lead for one lap when Norris pitted.

The Dutchman pitted a lap later, rejoining in fifth, sandwiched between the Ferraris.

Moving up to fourth when Antonelli pitted, Verstappen was promoted again when Piastri retired. However, the VSC that followed saw Hamilton pit for softs without losing track position, while Verstappen stayed out.

The Dutchman subsequently made one of his trademark 'killer' moves on his rival to claim second.

"I saw the opportunity as my only one, and yeah, I just went for it," he told reporters post-race. "We're good on the brakes, so that helped, it was all under control," he added.

"I didn't expect to be on the podium today," he admitted, "but we worked hard for it. "I think the start was decent, you know, to get through Turns 1 and 2, and then after the first stop to get back ahead of Lewis under braking into Turn 1, I was just trying to survive on the compounds, trying to make the right calls with the strategy as well. So I am very happy to be second here.

"I was still struggling with the same things as yesterday," he said. "So the car was just extremely oversteery, dragging quite hard at one point as well, but I do think that, in the start, moving forward was, of course, making our first stint possible.

"Then of course, we got undercut, but then I made the move on Lewis, which then, I think, made my second stint a little bit more straightforward and then the team also put me onto the soft.

"Initially, I was like 'that's going to be a long one to the end', but we made it work. So yeah, overall I still don't really understand how we are second, but I think as a team we performed strongly.

"I see it as a bit of like overperformance to what we expected," he admitted. "I guess that's of course a good thing considering how everything felt, and I saw also when I jumped out of the car again there was damage on the car for whatever reason, so it's not... it was not made easy for us."

Asked if he felt the car had somehow improved overnight, considering the problems experienced on Saturday, he said: "No, it was exactly the same.

"There's nothing that you can change anyway, you know, after qualifying," he continued. "So I knew that it was going to be tough, and it was very tough, honestly. I think one of the hardest races of this year in terms of how I felt in the car, how I had to manage the balance as well corner to corner. So yeah, to be on the podium I think was an incredible result for us."

Check out our Sunday gallery from the Hungaroring here.