After the disappointment and disarray of Hockenheim, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes enjoyed a remarkable, redemptive comeback at the Hungarian Grand Prix. This time – in the natural amphitheatre of the Hungaroring – sunshine, driver and team all burned brightly, with the latter’s stagecraft magnificent to behold as Hamilton beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to first place.

The race was gripping, tense and almost impossible to call until the final laps and even Hamilton had doubted whether he could pull it off but when the world champion and Mercedes are this good they are irrepressible.

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This was yet another masterclass from the British driver and his team. Mercedes had taken a gamble but in doing so called the race to perfection, returning one of the best victories this season – no small praise given they have won 10 of the 12 grands prix. The race had hung in the balance but although Verstappen had led almost throughout, Hamilton, on fresher tyres, swept past the 21-year-old Dutchman with three laps to go to take the flag. Mercedes’ decision to pit their driver a second time gave Hamilton a decisive advantage he exploited brilliantly.

Knowing that overtaking is tricky through the twisting corners of the circuit, he believed his team would have to play a strong strategic game to ensure he could gain places and they proved more than up to the task. The team and drivers had been through an extensive debrief after performing poorly in the German Prix at Hockenheim a week earlier and duly came back with a display of precision execution, with Hamilton at the sharp end, delivering with a clinical drive.

“I don’t really make a lot of mistakes, the last one [in Germany] was a massive off-weekend for me,” he said. “These two weeks the team have been really great and supportive in allowing me to recover and giving me the best support group possible.”

Hamilton also acknowledged what a team effort it had been. “The guys are very calm when they talk about the strategy like the one today. ‘No, no, I truly believed you could do it,’ they told me. But I am sure they were nervous as hell that it wasn’t going to work. But collectively we made it happen.”

Hamilton’s 81st career win is also his seventh at the Hungarian GP and he has eight wins from 12 races, his best start to a season. His position looks almost unassailable, leading his teammate Valtteri Bottas by 62 points. Verstappen is a further seven points back in third and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who was third here, trails the Dutchman by 25 points.

The race unfolded in an almost classical three-act structure into which the protagonists threw so much effort that even Verstappen emerged smiling after his suitably theatrical engagement with Hamilton. “I think Lewis was on fire,” he said.

Verstappen held the lead from pole and with Hamilton immediately up to second from third at the expense of Bottas, they were nose to tail until the first stops, a teasing, tense scene-setter.

Red Bull pitted their man first, on lap 25, with Mercedes following six laps later. Hamilton immediately attacked. He flew after Verstappen, taking almost two and a half seconds out of his lead in two laps. He had caught him by lap 34 and his pace was superb. He climbed all over the back of Verstappen, who defended stoutly. With Hamilton harrying, on lap 39 they went wheel to wheel through turns one to four, in a thrilling battle. Hamilton went wide in a brave bid to pass on the outside of turn four as Verstappen held his place.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton congratulate each other after a gripping race in Hungary. Photograph: Pixathlon/REX/Shutterstock

This was clean, gripping racing but not enough for Hamilton to win so Mercedes rolled the dice in the final third. They pulled him in unexpectedly for a second stop to take the medium tyre on lap 48. It was a bold move. Red Bull could not respond to pit Verstappen without losing the lead so he had to stay out while Hamilton set off to make up the 20 seconds he needed to catch him.

Hamilton had the fresher rubber but Verstappen track position, either might yet have won it. However once in clean air, he pumped out fastest laps and, with Verstappen’s tyres gone, had caught up by lap 66 of 70. Verstappen had given his all but was powerless while Hamilton, relentless, was not to be denied. He swept past round the outside of turn one a lap later to take the lead and the win.

“I was really proud of how I delegated my work throughout and collectively with the team we did an exceptional job,” Hamilton said. “This morning they said a two-stop would not happen and when they called for it I wondered if it would work.

“A gamble is always a good thing. It felt like a big gamble. It was collectively a bold, risky strategy call, then it was doing the job at the end of the day. I had to do those laps to chew out the gap he had on me.”

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Ecstasy and relief seemed to vie for dominance as Hamilton climbed from his car; both had turned to exultation by the time he reached the podium with an ear-to-ear grin.

As he goes into F1’s summer break he and Mercedes delivered the perfect adieu. Only seven days after their season low, Hamilton and his team are soaring once more.

Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari. Carlos Sainz took an excellent fifth, his second in a row for McLaren, in front of the second Red Bull of Pierre Gasly. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen was seventh. Bottas was eighth with Lando Norris ninth for McLaren in front of the Toro Rosso of Alexander Albon.