Lewis Hamilton cruises to historic F1 British Grand Prix hat-trick

The Red Bulls of Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished third and fourth respectively, while Kimi Raikkonen, making his 100th race start for Ferrari after signing a new deal in midweek, pipped Force India’s Sergio Perez to fifth and moved up to third in the standings.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton won the British GP at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England, on Sunday. Sixth-placed Toro Rosso now have 41 points.

The home crowd were on their feet as Hamilton took the last lap to take the chequered flag by more than six seconds over Rosberg.

“Great job this weekend guys, thank you for your continued efforts”, Hamilton replied. On the last few laps I could see them shouting and it just spurred me on all the way.

He then ran and cavorted in front of them before getting in among the spectators.

We have got the best fans here.

And after parking his auto, jumping a barrier and taking a bow, he took time out before surfing to tell the crowd: “I don’t know if you can be as happy as me but I am really happy”. “I saved it for quite a long period of time”.

The German then asked: “What does that mean, I have to shift through it?”

“It was a bit of a tricky start, Max got me and it was an exciting race against him”, said the 30-year-old after the race.

“Yeah, absolutely”, Rosberg said.

Hamilton can meanwhile take the overall lead in the championship at the next race in Hungary on July 24.

The defending three-time World champion, who had his first flying run in Q3 deleted because he ran off the track, outpaced the championship leader and his rival Rosberg with a lap in one minute and 29.287 seconds on Saturday. Verstappen with a win, a second and a third is on 98.

In fact, on lap 15, he was caught by wunderkid Max Verstappen who passed him on the outside at Becketts on the following lap, and kept second even after the following stop for slicks. Lewis Hamilton is the man of the moment in the Formula 1 World Championship.

But Hamilton’s pole lap was not his fastest of the day – that honour went to his lap in the second part of qualifying, which was 0.044secs quicker. “It would have been stuck in seventh gear and that would have been the end, probably”, he said.