HUNGARORING, Hungary -- After his first win in five races, Sebastian Vettel revealed the philosophy that helped him ignore media reports of Ferrari's supposed slump in form -- "You're never as good as they say, you're never as bad as they say".

Vettel scored an exceptional victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, nursing a car with crooked steering home to the flag -- a drive which required staying off the kerbs for most of the race. It returned Ferrari to the top step of the podium for the first time since May's Monaco Grand Prix, which was also a Vettel-led one-two, and gave him a 14-point lead over Lewis Hamilton going into the summer break.

In the gap between Monaco and Hungary, title rivals Mercedes had claimed all four pole positions and three victories, leading to some speculation the championship had turned in the German manufacturer's favour. Vettel says he has learned to block out the assumptions people are making about the title race.

"That there's a lot of talk, and it's good to move on and get to the next race and the talking usually stops," Vettel said. "I think it's normal, based on what you did last race people say something good or something bad. I think something that has always worked for me is that you're never as good as they say, you're never as bad as they say. So, if Silverstone was the worst race of the year then that's fine, we move on, but it's a long year a lot of races, lots of ups and downs, it was a nice race here.

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"I really enjoyed it obviously [in qualifying] it was great, [the race] was a bit more difficult but in the end the result matter, that's what makes us very happy obviously, that's what the team they're working very hard again, you must not forget where we were last year at the end of last year and the step that Ferrari has made was bigger than anybody else."

Ferrari had high expectations of a title challenge last year but, despite a strong start to the season, had been demoted to third position in the championship by Red Bull at the summer break. Exactly 12 months later the team leads the drivers' championship, something Vettel believes deserves plaudits.

"It's easily forgotten when you're fighting, challenging. But as I said there are a lot of things that the team can be very proud about. They can be proud of themselves so I'm very happy, we're both very happy where we are with the car. The car was good, and the whole weekend overall. It's been a good day."