Lewis Hamilton wins third straight British Grand Prix at Silverstone and narrows gap on Nico Rosberg to just one point in title race

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Lewis Hamilton took his third consecutive British Grand Prix win with an easy victory at Silverstone.

Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg fought back to take second from Max Verstappen who was third, but the German was hit with a ten-second time penalty post-race which dropped him below the Red Bull driver.

For Hamilton it was a 47th career victory and his fourth here, matching Nigel Mansell’s total. 

A delighted Lewis Hamilton celebrates victory at the British Grand Prix by performing a crowd surf with supporters at Silverstone

Hamilton waves and blows kisses to the Silverstone crowd having secured victory in his home race of the British Grand Prix

Hamilton then climbed a railing and turned his back before dropping into the group of supporters to begin crowd surfing

Hamilton was taken away by the supporters who were delighted to see the Brit claim his fourth victory at the British Grand Prix

‘It’s never just plain sailing,’ said Hamilton. ‘That’s why the British Grand Prix is the best we have. We don’t have a lot of booing, which means we have great British spirit here.’

Cue the boos for Rosberg, who smiled through the pain of seeing his championship lead over Hamilton reduced to just one point following his penalty for a team radio infringement.

New radio rules introduced at the start of the season state that the driver ‘must drive the car alone and unaided' and his race engineer instructed Rosberg to avoid seventh gear. Mercedes lodged an intent to appeal against the penalty.

‘It was a tricky start,’ said the German before being hit with the penalty. ‘Congrats to Lewis. I couldn’t catch him today, no way.’

The pair locked out the front row of grid after qualifying. It was a tantalising prospect for the 140,000 packed into the grandstands. What followed was a spectacular anti-climax.

Hamilton did indeed do battle with a Mercedes, but the Silver Arrows in question was being driven by Bernd Maylander. Heavy rain 20 minutes before lights out convinced race director Charlie Whiting to start the race behind the safety car.

The fans yelled for action and Hamilton did his best to deliver, getting as close as he dared to the safety car, desperate to be let off the leash: ‘We can go, Charlie!’ implored Hamilton.

Hamilton steps off his car as Mercedes engineers in the background prepare to greet the race winner following his British GP victory

Hamilton has now won his fourth British Grand Prix and his third in a row as he closes in on Rosberg in the championship

Hamilton shows his joy as he steps on to the Silverstone podium where he was greeted by huge cheers from the home fans 

Hamilton salutes the Silverstone crowd after winning the British Grand Prix ahead of Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen (right)

Holding the winners' trophy at Silverstone, Hamilton greets the supporters with a thumbs up as he secured back-to-back race victories

Rosberg was congratulatory of Hamilton's win before soaking his Mercedes team-mate with champagne in the podium celebrations 

He got his wish as Maylander peeled off into the pits after five laps and he was followed by 10 drivers who went in to swap wet for intermediate tyres. There were plenty of near misses in the pit-lane during a frenzied couple of laps.

Had they come in one lap too early? That was certainly true for Pascal Wehrlein who beached his Manor at first corner, Abbey.

That was to the benefit of Force India’s Sergio Perez who went from 10th to fourth after stopping just before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed.

Hamilton and Rosberg also came in for intermediates, with the Briton five seconds ahead of his team-mate once all 22 runners had pitted by the end of lap eight.

Three laps later, Marcus Ericsson’s miserable weekend continued as he became the second man to bow out.

The Sauber mechanics had worked around the clock to get his car ready for the race after his crash in third practice, which saw the Swede spend Saturday afternoon in hospital.

It was all in vain though, with Ericsson reporting over the radio: ‘Something’s wrong with the engine.’

In the battle at the front, Rosberg was ordered to look after his tyres until the track was dry enough for slicks.

That time was lap 15 when Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took the plunge. Maybe Rosberg should have done the same.

Verstappen breezed around the outside of the German at Chapel on lap 16 to take second place. The mechanics were on their feet in the Red Bull garage and so too were the fans.

The race started with a safety car as torrential rain sparked chaos on the grid before proceedings got underway following the shower

Lewis Hamilton won his third straight British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday to close the gap on Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg 

Hamilton led comfortably from the start in front of team-mate Rosberg and the Red Bull's of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo

Rosberg finished second behind Hamilton but was unhappy with Verstappen and accused him of moving twice in the braking zone

 Hamilton controlled proceedings throughout on a drying race circuit and won the grand prix at Silverstone by seven seconds

Rosberg heaped pressure on his team-mate before the race after claiming fast starts are not Hamilton's strong suit

Rain failed to fall during the race but drivers still had to avoid wet patches, mainly at turn one which led to drivers making a few errors

Rosberg pitted a lap later, following Hamilton. Verstappen stayed out and retained second place when he emerged a lap later, trailing Hamilton by seven seconds and leading Rosberg by four.

The boy wonder was intent on catching Hamilton and was flying in the clear air, setting the fastest lap on lap 20.

But he lost three seconds on the following lap, doing what Vettel had four laps earlier by running wide at Abbey. Spaniards Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz and Manor’s Rio Haryanto did the same shortly afterwards.

Rosberg too was a man on a mission, setting three consecutive fastest laps to close to within two seconds of Verstappen. Hamilton was another Abbey victim on lap 28. He lost three seconds and suddenly five seconds separated the top three.

They caught the backmarkers after 30 laps and Verstappen lost out, falling into Rosberg’s clutches.

A shower before the race saw Hamilton dive for the umbrella as the Mercedes mechanics urgently replaced the slick tyres with wet rubber

British fans around the Silverstone circuit unveiled banners in support of the triple world champion Hamilton in his bid to win on home soil

‘Come on, the blue flags are ridiculous!’ yelled Verstappen over the radio. He held Rosberg at bay for seven laps but the Mercedes’ superior speed told on lap 38 as he regained second spot at Stowe.

By then Hamilton had pulled out a nine-second lead and any thoughts of a late Rosberg charge evaporated as he reported a gearbox issue to his engineers.

They instructed him to ‘avoid seventh gear’ and as a result Rosberg was placed under investigation after the race. 

Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Perez, Nico Hulkenberg, Sainz, Vettel and Daniil Kvyat completed the top 10, with Brits Jenson Button 12th.

British boxing star Anthony Joshua was among the sporting celebrities to visit Silverstone for the British Grand Prix this weekend

England cricketers James Anderson (left), Stuart Broad (centre) and Joe Root were guests of Red Bull on race day at Silverstone

Former Spice Girls Geri Horner, wife of Red Bull boss Christian, and Emma Bunton were also in attendance for the British Grand Prix