Lewis Hamilton's 'unacceptable' humiliation of Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari's Formula One team has been left scratching its head after an embarrassing situation at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton stormed too victory in Sunday's race, with a sixth-placed finish to Sebastian Vettel the best Ferrari could muster.

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Teammate Charles Leclerc finished back in 11th place.

Not surprisingly, Leclerc was lapped by the flying Hamilton but in a worrying sign for Ferrari, so too was his teammate Vettel.

Ferrari described the humiliation as "painful" and branded their current predicament "unacceptable", with commentators also weighing in on the team's struggles.

“That’s a very significant moment,” Sky F1’s Martin Brundle said after watching Hamilton lap four-time world champion Vettel.

Ferrari officials were devastated that both their cars were lapped and their team boss was left searching for answers after the race.

“An extremely disappointing Sunday and the result is very hard to swallow,” team boss Mattia Binotto said.

“In qualifying, we had got the most out of the car as it is at the moment, but in the race that was not the case. To be lapped is very painful for us and our fans.”

Binotto was particularly unhappy with the new aerodynamic package for their vehicles, that Ferrari has fast-tracked for this season.

“Now we return home after this very long trip and we have to try everything we can to improve as much as possible in every area,” he explained after race three.

“Everyone will have to analyse their work and have the courage to change course if necessary, because the current dynamic is unacceptable. There is no other solution to fix this situation.”

Vettel admitted after the race that he was not surprised to see Hamilton lap him, in a further sign of concern for Ferrari.

“It was already clear that he would lap us before the race,” he told Sky F1. “It was not a surprise,” the German said.

“I think probably today this was where we could finish, arguably fifth or sixth but probably not further up."

Hamilton won the race from pole as Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas made a mess of it and slipped from second to sixth, before crossing the finish line in third place.

Max Verstappen shot from seventh to third after his mechanics somehow managed to fix the car in some 15 minutes after he skidded into the barriers in then still wet conditions while on his way to the grid.

He eventually sealed a second-placed finish.

Aussie Daniel Ricciardo was eighth in his Renault after starting the race from 11th place on the grid.

Tyre strategies play big part

On a rapidly drying track the drivers swiftly came into the pits to change their intermediate tyres for dry-weather slicks.

Once all the top drivers had fresh rubbers Hamilton remained top ahead of Verstappen while Vettel lost precious seconds when he couldn't be released from the pits because of traffic.

Also still in the mix were Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean who switched from full wets to slicks right at the start.

Leclerc was the only one with soft tyres which degraded quicker and he eventually was passed by Red Bull's Alex Albon - who impressively fought back from 13th on the grid - and Vettel, with no incident between the two Ferrari drivers this time around after Leclerc shunted into Vettel a week ago.

It was gamble by Ferrari as more rain was forecast but that eventually never materialised and a second round of pit stops followed at around the halfway mark of the 70-lap race.

Despite upgrades, Lecelerc and Vettel were lapped by Hamilton who cruised more than 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen who soon had Bottas breathing down his neck.

The Finn then pitted a third time for fresh rubbers which gave Verstappen some respite before he also held off a late Bottas charge.

Hamilton was also told to pit late on and managed to convince his team to get soft rather than hard tyres for the final three laps - then setting the fastest lap for one extra championship point and beating Vertappen by almost nine seconds despite one stop more than the Dutchman.

Hamilton's eight wins at the Hungaroring since a first one in 2007 draw him level with former great Michael Schumacher who won the French GP eight times

Hamilton is now just five grands prix wins away from Schumacher's leading 91 and he can also emulate the German if he wins a seventh world title.

He tops the standings with 63 points from three races thanks to his second win in a row, five ahead of Bottas.

with AAP