Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix

DOUBLE world champion Lewis Hamilton is on target to take a third title, overcoming a poor start and changing conditions to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

With a record-breaking 18 straight wins, Hamilton’s poor start and the intervention of an early safety car set him back from pole position into third place behind the two Williams of Bottas and Massa.

A pile-up on the first lap saw Lotus team-mates Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, along with Jenson Button in the McLaren taken out of the race. However, Alonso, who was involved in the same incident, managed to carry on to finish the race in 10^th place and receive his first point of the season.

But with the Mercedes’ power advantage over the field and some inspired driving, Lewis had retaken the lead before the first pit stops. His team mate Nico Rosberg had had to fight a little harder to regain the second spot, which he eventually managed as the rain set in to dampen the final quarter of the race.

Unlike Hamilton’s disastrous pit stop decision in Monaco, this time, Lewis called the shots to go to Intermediates with perfect timing. His choice of coming in for tyres just as the heavens opened ensured an even greater gap over Rosberg at the chequered flag.

Silverstone saw an unfortunate day for the Willams team, as bad timing with their wet weather pit stop allowed Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to take advantage and steal third place on the podium.

As Hamilton soaked up the win, and everyone with champagne, he said: “Thank you for coming out today and making my whole weekend, I really wanted to do it for you guys. I couldn’t have done it without you. I’m so elated. You can’t imagine how happy I am. I was tearing up on the last lap.”