Lewis Hamilton overcame late rain showers and a stern early challenge from Williams to score a third British Grand Prix victory at Silverstone.

The reigning world champion was forced to work hard for the win on home soil with the race having been dominated by the Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas early on.

However, a perfect strategy call from the Mercedes team for both pits stops paved the way for Hamilton to take the chequered flag in slippery wet conditions from a hard charging Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

The Williams pair of Massa and Bottas were forced to settle for fourth and fifth respectively.

The early laps belonged to Williams as Massa and Bottas leapt in front of the Mercedes front row of Hamilton and Rosberg, who slotted into third and fourth.

After a brief Safety Car period, Massa and Bottas appeared to have the measure of the Mercedes, but they failed to make the most of their pace advantage as they battled amongst themselves for the lead.

An inspired call to pit Hamilton as the first of the front runners saw him emerge in the lead at the end of the first round of stops.

Once in front, Hamilton controlled the race at the front until the rain hit in the closing laps, but his Mercedes team pitted him again at the precise moment to change to intermediate tyres.

The Brit had been caught by Rosberg just before his stop, however, the rain intensified which forced the German to pit a lap later for intermediates, handing the lead back to Hamilton.

In the end, Hamilton was able to cruise to victory from Rosberg.

After struggling for pace initially, Vettel benefited from pitting on the same lap as race winner to jump ahead of both Williams drivers into a surprise third.

Williams’ race unravelled further once the rain hit as the team chose to pit Massa and Bottas on the same lap.

Early race leader Massa was forced to to settle for fourth with Bottas crossing the line in a distant fifth.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat finished sixth but it was another disappointing race for Daniel Ricciardo, who retired in the early stages with a terminal engine problem.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg enjoyed a solid drive to seventh ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who was hampered by a strategy call that saw him change intermediate tyres too early.

Sergio Perez ensured that both Force India’s finished in the points at their home race in ninth.

It was a mixed race for McLaren as Fernando Alonso came through to score his first point of the season in 10th.

This came after an opening lap clash with team-mate Jenson Button which forced the Brit out of the race.

The crash was the result of an bottleneck at the opening corner which saw Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean collide, which prompted the Safety Car.

Both Toro Rossos retired from the race with Max Verstappen suffering a spin shortly after the Safety Car, while a mechanical issue was the reason for Carlos Sainz’s demise.

Result: Formula 1 British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Championship Standings