Charles Leclerc all but concedes title to Max Verstappen after Ferrari blunder

Charles Leclerc all but conceded the world championship to Max Verstappen after he admitted it is going to be “very difficult” to stop his rival following another Ferrari blunder at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen takes an 80-point advantage into the sport’s one-month shutdown – the equivalent of more than three victories with just nine to play – after he claimed the eighth win of his title defence at the Hungaroring following a superb drive from 10th on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton started seventh and finished second – following his late charge through the field – with pole-sitter George Russell third.

After Leclerc overcame Russell’s 30-lap resistance to assume the lead at Turn 1, he looked destined to win.

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. It was a strategy dismissed by tyre supplier Pirelli, and one Verstappen said his Red Bull team did not even consider.

From being the fastest man at the Hungaroring, Leclerc suddenly had no speed, and he was gobbled up by Verstappen at the start of lap 40.

Verstappen spun at the penultimate corner on the same lap to allow Leclerc back in front. But such was Leclerc’s dramatic loss of pace, Verstappen raced past his beleaguered rival with ease at the second corner five laps later. An extra pit stop saw him cross the line a desperate sixth.

“A race like this is frustrating and we need to get better as a whole,” said the 24-year-old, who crashed from the lead of last weekend’s French Grand Prix.

“It always feels like there is something going on, whether it is reliability or mistakes, so we need to get better at putting a weekend together.

“We