A masterful display in wet conditions thrilled a partisan crowd as the young Briton streaked to a 68,5-second win over BMW's Nick Heidfeld.

An emotional Hamilton heralded his third win of the season and the seventh of his Formula One career as "by far" his best ever.

"It was one of the toughest races I have ever done," said the Stevenage-born racer.

"I was thinking as I was driving that if I won it would definitely go down as the best - not only because of all the history and because it is my home ground, but because it is one of the best actual drives I have put together."

Hamilton is the first Englishman to win at Silverstone since Johnny Herbert in 1995 and he was quick to pay tribute to the vocal Silverstone support.

He added: "I must say a huge thank you to all the fans here.

They have been incredible all weekend and without their support we couldn't have done this.

"This is the best weekend ever.

The crowd deserve it, the country deserves it and the team does too."

Hamilton, 23, produced an excellent start and a superbly aggressive opening stint to take the lead early on, before going on to close the race out maturely.

Nampa-AFP

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