Lewis Hamilton claims a hard-fought and stunning victory in a thrilling British GP

This afternoon in Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for the third time in his Formula One career and has equalled the record set by Nigel Mansell and Jim Clark. Hamilton finished ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

Before the start of the race, Sauber driver Felipe Nasr did not start the race after stopping on the circuit while heading to the grid. At the start of the race, Felipe Massa has had a blistering start off his grid slot and passes Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton for the lead of the race. Valtteri Bottas has also had a great start and is now in second place.

At Village corner, both of the Lotus drivers of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado have collided with each other after coming together; with both retiring from the race and also Jenson Button has gone off into the gravel trap after hitting his team mate Fernando Alonso as a result of the Lotus incident and has retired from the race.

Also on the opening lap, we saw Daniil Kvyat battling his way up the grid and was able to pass Sebastian Vettel for position; Bottas and Rosberg also battling for second place and due to the incident between the Lotus drivers, the Safety Car was deployed.

At the end of Lap 3 as the Safety Car was coming in, Hamilton tries to have a go at passing Massa, fails to do so; misses the chicane and this allows Bottas to pass him for second place. This then also puts him under attack from his team mate who cannot pass him. Max Verstappen went into the barriers after losing the car and officially retires from the race.

Meanwhile, Vettel loses two places to Kvyat and Sergio Perez and appears to be going slowly. On Lap 5, the stewards announce that an investigation between Button and Grosjean will be taking place after the race. By Lap 9, the Williams team instruct both of their drivers “not to race each other”; while on the track, Vettel at Brooklands corner passes Perez for track position. The next lap sees Bottas trying to pass Massa through Stowe but is unable to pass.

In the first half of the race, the Williams team radio saga is still ongoing. Bottas has now been told that if he has the opportunity to make a “clear” move, he can do so and is still keeping the pressure on Massa. Meanwhile, there is a battle for fifth behind the top four drivers between Nico Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat, Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez.

On Lap 20 of the race, Kimi Raikkonen passes Marcus Ericsson for track position while at the end of the lap, Massa and Rosberg put for new tyres and hands the lead to Bottas. But Massa loses a place to Hamilton after he performs the undercut and Massa is now under pressure from Rosberg and Bottas pits at the end of the lap for new tyres and hands the lead to Hamilton on Lap 22.

But Bottas nearly lost third place to Rosberg after Rosberg tries to pass him but Botats drove well and very defensively to maintain his position. On Lap 23, Hamilton leads the race ahead of Massa by 3.4 seconds. Also on this lap, Daniel Ricciardo officially retires from the race after suffering a terminal problem with his Renault engine.

With dark clouds looming over the Silverstone circuit; the threat of rain looking ever more stronger at this stage of the race. In the second half of the race, the Williams drivers are still battling with each other for second place. By Lap 31, Hamilton still lead the race ahead of Massa by 5.2 seconds.

There was a battle for ninth on the track between Carlos Sainz Jr and Sergio Perez with Perez slowly gaining on him all the time. However, Perez while gaining ground did go into the run off area while trying to catch him but was able to continue. On Lap 33, Sainz Jr officially retired his Toro Rosso from the race and it is a shame after a good weekend for him. This then brought out the virtual safety car as the car is removed by the marshals.

Racing was resumed on Lap 35 of the race and drivers on their team radios confirming that light rain is now hitting the Silverstone circuit. The rain two laps later is getting heavier in several parts of the track and the drivers and the teams at this point was still debating what to do in terms of strategy.

Lap 39 saw Nico Rosberg passing Valtteri Bottas for the final podium position at this stage of the race at Corpse corner as a battle between Vettel and Kvyat is still on going on the track. Rosberg catches Massa very quickly and on Lap 41 passes Massa for second place of the race.

With another rain shower expected within the final ten laps of the race, everyone's attentions were focused yet again on if the drivers would need to pit for intermediate or wet tyres. With Raikkonen losing a place to Perez, it seems like he may have blinked too soon.

In these final closing laps of the race, Rosberg is quickly gaining on Hamilton and it would appear that Hamilton doesn't like the conditions and wants to change tyres and pits at the end of Lap 43 and hands the lead to Rosberg. The following lap sees Rosberg pitting for intermediate tyres and hands the lead back to Hamilton.

Also, Will Stevens went off the circuit and knocked the barrier. He damaged his front wing but was able to continue on during the race. In the final few laps of the race, the British fans were getting ready (if they are Hamilton fans!) were ready to see their man home across the line.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who the British GP ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg who finished in second place 10.956 seconds behind him but was ahead of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel in third place who was 25.443 seconds behind the Mercedes of Hamilton.

Felipe Massa finished the race in fourth place ahead of his team mate Valtteri Bottas in fifth place and ahead of Daniil Kvyat in sixth place. Nico Hulkenberg gave the Force India B car a great weekend by finishing in seventh place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in eighth place who was ahead of Sergio Perez in ninth place and Fernando Alonso who rounded off the top ten finishers and scored his first points of the season.

Marcus Ericsson ended the race in eleventh place ahead of Roberto Merhi in twelfth place and Will Stevens in thirteenth place. The non-finishers of the race were Carlos Sainz Jr, Daniel Ricciardo (who had a terminal engine problem), Max Verstappen, Pastor Maldonado, Romain Grosjean, Felipe Nasr and Jenson Button.

The classification for the British GP is as follows:-

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.31.27.729
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 10.956s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 25.443s
4. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 36.839s
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.03.194s
6. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault, 1.03.955s
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.18.744s
8. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1 lap
9. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
10. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1 lap
11. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
12. Roberto Merhi, Manor, 3 laps
13. Will Stevens, Manor, 3 laps
14. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, Not Classified
15. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, Not Classified
16. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, Not Classified
17. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, Not Classified
18. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, Not Classified
19. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, Not Classified
20. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, Not Classified

Lewis Hamilton leads the Drivers' Championship with 194 points, Rosberg is second with 177 points, Vettel is third with 175 points, Bottas is fourth with 77 points, Raikkonen is fifth with 76 points, Massa is sixth with 74 points, Ricciardo is seventh with 36 points, Kvyat is eighth with 27 points, Hulkenberg is ninth with 24 points and Grosjean is tenth with 17 points.

Mercedes lead the Constructors Championship with 371 points, Ferrari is second with 211points, Williams are third with 151 points, Red Bull are fourth with 63 points, Force India are fifth with 39 points, Lotus are sixth with 29 points, Sauber are seventh with 21 points, Toro Rosso are eighth with 19 points and McLaren-Honda are ninth with 5 points.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa