Beaten Vettel still further ahead than ever - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was overtaken by both McLarens in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix yet ended up with an even bigger lead in a Formula One championship already beyond the reach of most of his rivals.

The German world champion, who won six of the first eight races, has now been beaten in the last three grands prix and struggled in damp conditions on intermediate tyres before benefiting from two Lewis Hamilton errors to finish second.

"Today I'm not 100 percent happy because I started from pole and had the feeling we could win the race," he told reporters after McLaren's Jenson Button reached the chequered flag first.

"Second is an important step but the win was in reach today."

Vettel's driving skills have come under greater scrutiny than ever in recent races but he is 85 points ahead of team mate Mark Webber, his biggest lead of the campaign so far.

With eight races to come after a month's break, it would be astonishing if the 24-year-old did not clinch his second successive title well before the end of the season.

All the drivers below seventh placed compatriot Nico Rosberg, who has 48 points to Vettel's 234, in the standings are now mathematically out of contention

Increased competition from McLaren and Ferrari are one reason for the recent 'blip' and Vettel is being as hard on his team as on himself to try to find some answers and make sure the end of the season does not turn into a nervous nailbiter.

"At the start of the race I was struggling a little bit on the intermediates," he said.

"Ferrari and McLaren in the last two races have made a step forward, we need to see why. There are things we can improve without looking at the others."

Webber came home fifth after qualfying sixth and had fun in the wet conditions, except when having to choose tyre strategy.

"It was quite an enjoyable Grand Prix up until when you make the wrong decision from the cockpit, I made the right one to go to the slicks," the Australian said.

"I got away reasonably, I saw the Mercedes' and those guys got a very good start as well, a lot better than me for sure. But you knew it was going to be (down to) some more decisions late in the race which I got some right and some wrong."