Seven weeks ago, Daniel Ricciardo picked up his first Formula One victory in exciting fashion as he passed Nico Rosberg on the penultimate lap of the Canadian Grand Prix.
He was at it again on Sunday, passing Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in the final four laps of the Hungarian Grand Prix to come out on top.
It was a validation of good strategy and some bold overtaking for the Red Bull Racing driver, who had laid back in sixth place in the early stages of the race.
Wet weather and a crash for the Caterham of Marcus Ericsson were also a key factor in allowing Ricciardo, 25, to take centre stage for a second time from the usually dominant Mercedes-GP cars of Rosberg and Hamilton.
Storms soaked the circuit in the hour before the start of the race, causing the cars to all start on the intermediate tyre compounds.
It looked like business as usual, despite the slippery conditions, as Rosberg, who started on the pole, claimed a lead of 10 seconds in the opening laps.
But the race opened up when Ericcson lost his car on the exit of Turn 3 and ploughed into the barriers.
The track was beginning to dry out, and Ricciardo led the charge for a number of midfield runners into the pits.
The leading trio of Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas’s Williams and the second Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel waited a lap to pit, a move that proved costly, as the time lost knocked them back into the pack, allowing Ricciardo to take the lead.
He then made a three-stop pit strategy work. He was never again outside the top six the rest of the day and he hunted down the two-stopping Ferrari of Alonso and Hamilton in the closing stages.
[ Click here to see photo gallery from Hungarian Grand Prix ]
On considerably fresher rubber, he went around the outside of Hamilton at Turn 2 on Lap 67 of the 70-lap race, and at the beginning of the next lap, dived down the inside of Alonso at Turn 1 to cap a memorable afternoon.
“We had to overtake to win the race, we had fresher tyres but I knew it would be an exciting finish,” said Ricciardo, an Australian.
“There was only one way to win it, which was getting around them … When I got the lead, I knew there were a couple of laps to go, and that feels good.”
It was not all plain sailing for Ricciardo, who feared for his chances of finishing the race when he began having power problems in the middle of the race.
“For a few laps, we had a few issues and we were down on power, so I had to get a bit crazy on the switches,” he said.
“So the race could have potentially finished early, but we got through that and I was happy.”
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The Hungaroring is notorious for being a difficult race in which to overtake when conditions are dry, and it is unlikely that Ricciardo, or anyone else for that matter, would have gotten anywhere near Rosberg without that brief flurry of rain.
The wet weather opened the door for Ricciardo and gave Hamilton the opportunity to perform another remarkable recovery. Given the number of saves the 2008 world champion has made this summer, he ought to consider life as a football goalkeeper.
He started ninth in Austria and finished second, began in the sixth position in Britain and won, and was 20th on the grid after a brake failure in Germany, but bounced back to be third.
Finishing third in Hungary was the best escape of all – not only did he start from pit lane as a result of his car catching fire in qualifying, he spun on the opening lap at Turn 2.
Perhaps the luck that deserted him on Saturday returned, because he suffered only light damage to his front wing, despite clipping the barriers in his spinout.
From then on, Hamilton did not put a wheel wrong, charging through the pack and making a two-stop strategy work to leapfrog his teammate, gaining three points in the championship fight in the process.
On a dry track, Hamilton would have found it much harder to pass the midfield runners. His inability to pass Alonso, who was on older tyres, in the closing laps on a bone-dry track, support that view.
Hamilton’s objective before the race, starting from the back, was to minimize the number of points lost to Rosberg, but thanks to the rally, he cut his championship deficit from 14 to 11 points.
It doubtlessly felt like a victory, even though his surly expression on the podium failed to convey that emotion.
“I was just pushing as hard as I could to get as high as I could,” said Hamilton, who was attempting to become the first driver in F1 to win after starting a race in the pit area.
“I cannot explain the pain you feel when you have issues such as the issues I’ve had in the last couple of races.
“It is difficult to swallow, and to come back next day and attack.”
Second place represented Alonso’s best result of the season, and he was in good spirits despite coming so close to winning.
“I’m happy and proud of the job done,” the Spaniard said. “It was probably one of the few podiums we will achieve this season. We can go on vacation now with a good taste in our mouths.”
Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, while world champion Vettel led for several laps after recovering from a spectacular 360-degree spin on the main straight to finish seventh.
*Agencies contributed to this report
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