Budapest: Lewis Hamilton was living a dream on Sunday after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position to take a 24-point lead into Formula One's August break.

The four-times world champion's fifth win of the season for Mercedes left him on 213 points to 189 for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, and relishing the prospect of a stress-free family holiday.

"I really could only have dreamt that we would be in the position that we are in right now," he told reporters.

"I'm really happy, going into the break, particularly with back-to-back wins. The second half usually gets a bit better for us.

"I think that boost will last a long time for our team and it's encouraging for everyone so I'm excited for the break," added the Briton.

The victory was Hamilton's record sixth in Hungary and 67th of his career.

Hamilton admitted after the race that it would have been difficult for him to beat Vettel, had the German emerged from the pit lanes ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

"If he had come out ahead of Valtteri, it would have been very, very hard," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

"He would have probably caught me with five laps to go. Would I have been able to keep him behind? I would have struggled," Hamilton said.

Ferrari had the quickest car throughout practice but Mercedes took full advantage of the wet qualifying conditions to secure a front-row lockout - and they never looked back.

"We have made the most of every single opportunity we have had and l think that could be key at the end of the year.

"Ferrari have had a slightly better package, but we have delivered ours. Hopefully that will make a difference.

"And hopefully we will be able to upgrade our package in the second half of the season so that it would be a little bit stronger than theirs," he said.

Asked how difficult the race was, Hamilton told F1's official website: "I was sweating. It was so hot... I think it's the last part here that really kills me, when I go and celebrate with my team."

Asked whether it was a mistake on his part for delaying a pit stop, Vettel said: "Obviously something didn't go as we planned.

"I think it was a bit difficult to foresee the traffic and I lost quite a lot of time.

"The worst that can happen is that you come in earlier at the pit stop, you gain the position and then you fall apart at the end.

"You don't want to do that. I think what we did was OK. But then, as it turned out, we obviously lost out."