Lewis Hamilton led the Hungarian Grand Prix from start to finish to claim the third win of his rookie season.
Hamilton, who had controversially started from pole following a five-place grid penalty for Fernando Alonso, now holds a seven-point lead over his McLaren team-mate in the drivers' title race.
Alonso, who was forced to start from sixth after being accused by stewards of illegally impeding Hamilton in Saturday's qualifying session, came fourth behind the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
While Hamilton and Alonso will retain their points in the drivers' championship, McLaren - for now - claim nothing in their bid for the constructors' crown.
The race stewards chose not to accept McLaren team principal Ron Dennis' version of events, with the penalty the loss of all team points from this race - a total of 15.
That led to McLaren racing under appeal, and with the hope the decision will be overturned at a later date.
A clearly disappointed Dennis said: ‘Everything that came out is linked to our commitment to equality.
‘Yesterday was very, very challenging, with no real innocent party in some aspects of the team.
‘But from the perception of “did we do anything that was not consistent with our efforts to be equal and even-handed?”, most certainly not.’
When asked whether he accepted any guilt, Dennis replied: ‘I don't think guilt is the right word.
‘But clearly when things don't go as planned there is a reason.
‘If the plans we put in place had been properly executed we'd have had both cars comfortably on the front row of the grid, and not be faced with the loss of constructors' points.
‘It was our team that put ourselves in the position, and at the end of the day we will consider carefully the best way forward.’
Fortunately for Dennis, while Hamilton may have strengthened his hand in his bid to win the world title, McLaren as a team have not lost too much ground over Ferrari in the constructors' fight.
With only Raikkonen scoring points, the gap is now 19 from the 27 prior to the race at the tight, twisty circuit on the outskirts of Budapest.
The Hungaroring is a notoriously-difficult track on which to pass, unless unusually wet conditions prevail as happened last year when Jenson Button won the only race of his career to date.
Button's grand prix on this occasion was over on lap 35, pulling over to one side in his Honda with what appeared to be mechanical failure.
Anthony Davidson was another British retiree, spinning out a few laps later in his Super Aguri after banging wheels with Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella.
The Italian, like Alonso, had suffered a five-place grid penalty, relegating him from eighth to 13th, undoubtedly hindering his own cause for points as he ultimately finished 12th.
Up ahead Hamilton drove flawlessly, with the 22-year-old at times pressured by Raikkonen, but not enough to force him into an error.
There were occasions when Raikkonen managed to close the gap to under a second on his championship rival, drawing to within just 0.5secs with 13 laps remaining.
But with two such evenly-matched cars, getting close is one thing, overtaking another, and so it proved as Hamilton was able to hold his station.
Behind the leading duo, Heidfeld managed to hold off Alonso over the final 14 laps to claim third, with BMW Sauber team-mate Robert Kubica fifth.
Ralf Schumacher finished in his highest position for Toyota this year of sixth, followed by Nico Rosberg for Williams in seventh, and the Renault of Heikki Kovalainen eighth.
Leading Positions after Race (70 Laps):
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1hr 35mins 52.991secs, 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:35:53.706, 3 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:36:36.120, 4 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:36:37.849, 5 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:36:40.607, 6 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:36:43.600, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 1:36:52.130, 8 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:37:01.095, 9 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:37:09.322, 10 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota at 1 Lap, 11 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull at 1 Lap, 12 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault at 1 Lap, 13 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari at 1 Lap, 14 Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams at 1 Lap, 15 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri at 1 Lap, 16 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker at 2 Laps, 18 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda at 2 Laps
Not classified: 19 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 42 Laps completed, 20 Anthony Davidson (Gbr) Super Aguri 41 Laps completed, 21 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 35 Laps completed, 22 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker 4 Laps completed
World Championship Standings after the Hungarian Grand Prix:
Drivers: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 80pts, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 73, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 60, 4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 59, 5 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 42, 6 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 28, 7 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 17, 8 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 16, 9 Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams 13, 10 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 8, 11 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 8, 12 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 7, 13 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 7, 14 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 5, 15 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 4, 16 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1, 17 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 1
Manufacturers: 1 McLaren 153pts, 2 Ferrari 119, 3 BMW Sauber 71, 4 Renault 33, 5 Williams 20, 6 Red Bull 16, 7 Toyota 12, 8 Super Aguri 4, 9 Honda 1
