Lewis Hamilton wins a TERRIFIC British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix, after a poor start that let Williams take the initiative, thanks to an inspired tyre change as the rain came in.

We thought the 2015 British Grand Prix would be a walk in the park for Mercedes, and it was – eventually.

But from the start it all went wrong as the Williams of Massa and Bottas flew past both Rosberg and Hamilton – although Hamilton fought hard to keep Bottas at bay and kept his second spot – but then there was an early safety car after the two Lotus cars collided, Alonso took evading action which saw him end Button’s race, and the resulting safety car saw the pack close up.

At the restart, Hamilton tried too hard to pass Massa, ran a bit off track letting Bottas through in to second.

There then came a run with the Williams in front – and Bottas looking quicker than Massa, even though he was behind Massa and couldn’t get through – followed by an undercut pit stop by Hamilton, and a very quick first lap, saw Hamilton take the lead after the Williams pit stops left them behind the Mercedes.

But the Williams pit stop saw Massa out ahead of Rosberg – after a side-by-side battle exiting the pits – and Bottas got ahead of Rosberg too when he pitted on the next lap. Rosberg did manage to pass Bottas on turn four, but lost out when Bottas got back in front of him at the next turn.

Things stayed the same until lap 36 when light rain began to fall on parts of Silverstone, and Rosberg managed to first take Bottas as he struggled with grip and Massa a couple of laps later, and Vettel – whose Ferrari hadn’t looked competitive – also passed both Williams cars for third place after a stop for inters before the rain hit gave him more grip.

But it was Hamilton’s inspired decision to pit on lap 43 for intermediate tyres – before the rain really hit – that secured the win for the Brit as he – and Vettel – were a lap earlier than the rest to change to inters, a decision that secured his win and Vettel’s third place.

The British Grand Prix may have ended as predicted, but on the way it gave us the best GP of the year as Williams took the fight to Mercedes, and the British summer weather conspired to challenge the drivers and thrill the audience.