Hamilton wins his third British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton stretched his championship lead over teammate Nico Rosberg to 17 points with Sunday's win, despite a more challenging race for the Silver Arrows than many of the 2015 season.

"Get in there Lewis, great race mate, fantastic win," Hamilton's mechanic told the Brit over the in-car radio, to a grateful response from the defending champion. "Great job guys, I'm so happy with that. Thank you to all the fans, it was all for you."

Both Hamilton and Rosberg suffered a serious setback into turn 1, Abbey, at the start, when both the Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas flooded past the Mercedes and into the leading two positions off the line.

"I think you guys chose to start in second gear, didn't you?" Williams reserve driver Susie Wolff jokingly asked Niki Lauda, Mercedes F1's non-executive chairman, on German channel RTL immediately after the race.

Neither Hamilton nor Rosberg could find a way around Bottas or Massa in the early laps. Bottas, running second, was equally eager to challenge his teammate Massa for the lead. At first, the team refused, but soon gave the youngster - yet to win an F1 race - the green light to attack.

Early stops 'undercut' Williams, twice

As Massa and Bottas squabbled, Mercedes and Hamilton sought out Plan B. Hamilton pulled in for his first and only scheduled pit stop earlier than both the leaders, rejoining the track in free air on fresh rubber. Massa pitted immediately from the lead, trying to cover the threat, but the damage was already done; the Brazilian emerged from his pit stop just behind Hamilton, who never looked back.

Nico Rosberg, lacking the element of surprise Hamilton had when he stopped a lap later, remained stuck behind the Williams pair. However, light rain late in the race forced another round of unscheduled stops, where Williams again lost out.

Unsure whether or not the track was wet enough to warrant the change to intermediate tires, Williams again stopped later than both Rosberg and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who had had a rather anonymous race in fifth. Intermediates proved the right tire, allowing both Rosberg and Vettel to leapfrog Massa and Bottas in the pits.

Despite Ferrari's difficulties in dry conditions around Silverstone, Vettel's prancing horse looked far better in the damp weather, with him consistently among the faster drivers on track in the closing laps. "I'd never have been third without the rain," Vettel said on the podium.

Comparatively high levels of attrition also helped McLaren partially close one of the darkest chapters of the team's storied past. With only 13 finishers, Fernando Alonso managed 10th in his McLaren Honda, winning the team its first championship point since the Japanese engine manufacturer's return to F1 this season.

Owing to the cancellation of this year's German Grand Prix, which was scheduled for next Sunday, July 12, teams and drivers now have a three-week break until the series moves on to the Hungaroring circuit near Budapest.