Lewis Hamilton delivered a flawless drive from pole position to the chequered flag to win yesterday’s Hungarian Grand Prix for McLaren and revive his challenge for this year’s Formula One world championship.

The 27-year-old Briton took control of the race from the start and stayed in front, pit stops apart, as he resisted strong late pressure to come home ahead of Finland’s Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton’s win was his second of the year and the 19th of his career.

Raikkonen pushed hard to find a way of passing Hamilton in the closing laps, but the Englishman resisted despite having to fight to preserve his worn tyres.

Raikkonen finished a strong second ahead of his Lotus team-mate, Frenchman Romain Grosjean, and defending world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.

World championship leader Fernando Alonso, of Ferrari, came in fifth.

Hamilton’s McLaren team-mate Jenson Button finished sixth, while Bruno Senna in a Williams, Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg rounded out the top ten.

Alonso stays on top of the standings, but Hamilton closed the gap and his victory in the much improved McLaren boosted his team’s hopes of mounting a challenge for the title in the second half of the season.

After 11 of this year’s 20 races, Hamilton is back in fourth place with 117 points behind Alonso on 164, Webber on 124 and Vettel on 122.

Hamilton said: “An amazing day, fantastic work by all the team and the fans have been fantastic. Thank you for having us.

“I am looking forward to the continuation of the championship. There’s a long way to go and a lot of work to do but we have shown we can compete.”

On another hot day at the Hungaroring, Hamilton had stayed cool at the start when he pulled away from pole position and into the lead.

Behind him, with the race reduced from 70 laps to 69 because of the aborted first start, Schumacher started from the pit lane and collected a drive-through penalty for speeding when he came in for an early tyre change.

Hamilton went on to build up a lead of 2.1 seconds ahead of Grosjean, but that lead was cut down to less than a second as the Frenchman closed on Hamilton, running on harder medium tyres.

In the searing heat, tyre-wear and management was a major factor and Hamilton’s team-mate Button made a second pit stop after 35 laps to change to soft tyres.

McLaren had changed to a “plan B” for Button, understood to be on a three-stop strategy instead of two, although Hamilton stuck to a two-stop plan.

As Hamilton pitted again, Raikkonen enjoyed a spell in the lead before making another stop of his own in the hope that his fresher tyres would give him an advantage in the closing laps.

Hamilton’s lead increased to 4.4 seconds from Raikkonen and Grosjean with 20 laps remaining and administered that lead till the end.

Budapest GP result

1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) - 1h41m05.503s
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) at 1.0 secs
3. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) - 10.5
4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) - 11.6
5. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) - 26.6
6. Jenson Button (McLaren) - 30.2
7. Bruno Senna (Williams) - 33.8
8. Mark Webber (Red Bull) - 34.4
9. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) - 38.3
10. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) - 51.2
11. Nico Hülkenberg (Force India) - 57.2
12. Paul di Resta (Force India) - 1:02.8
13. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) - 1:03.6
14. Sergio Perez (Sauber) - 1:04.4
15. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) at 1 lap
16. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) - 1 lap
17. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham) - 1 lap
18. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) at 2 laps
19. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham) - 2 laps
20. Charles Pic (Marussia) - 2 laps
21. Timo Glock (Marussia) at - 3 laps
22. Pedro de la Rosa (HRT) - 3 laps

Retired from race
N. Karthikeyan (HRT) - 60 laps
M. Schumacher (Mercedes) - 58 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel – 1:24.136 (lap 68)
Next race: Belgium GP – September 2.

Overall standings

Drivers
1. Alonso (ESP) 164, 2. Webber (AUS) 124, 3. Vettel (GER) 122, 4. Hamilton (GBR) 117, 5. Raikkonen (FIN) 116, 6. Rosberg (GER) 77, 7. Button (GBR) 76, 8. Grosjean (FRA) 76, 9. Perez (MEX) 47, 10. Kobayashi (JPN) 33, 11. Maldonado (VEN) 29, 12. Schumacher (GER) 29, 13. Di Resta (SCO) 27, 14. Massa (BRA) 25, 15. Senna (BRA) 24, 16. Hulkenberg (GER) 19, 17. Vergne (FRA) 4, 18. Ricciardo (AUS) 2.

Constructors
1. Red Bull Racing 246, 2. McLaren Mercedes 193, 3. Lotus 192, 4. Scuderia Ferrari 189, 5. Mercedes AMG 106, 6. Sauber 80, 7. Williams 53, 8. Force India 46, 9. Scuderia Toro Rosso 6.