Lewis Hamilton overcame a slow start, a Williams barrage, a safety car and some late rain to claim his second successive British Grand Prix triumph.
It was anything but clear sailing for the reigning World Champion Sunday afternoon, but the multiple hurdles were surmounted one jump at a time.
"It was a really tricky race, and one of the trickiest I've had for a long time, but a fantastic race," commented Ham. "Difficult start, but fortunately that was the case for both of us, and on the restart I was eager to get past Massa but went in a bit deep and couldn't get the car stopped."
Following a perfectly executed pit-stop on lap 19, Hamilton undercut the Williams and emerged ahead, gradually building up a gap only for the rain to throw a spanner into the works. But the timing of the change to intermediate tires was flawless, both from the engineers on the pitwall as from Hamilton.
"It's so difficult because when you're the first car, you're the first one to test everything out, to feel out what the track is doing. It was so tricky, I didn't want to take any risks and I kept seeing the crowd from the corner of my eye and didn't want to drop it for them. And I came in just at the right time, as I could see the rain."
Fortunately for Hamilton and all those who had pitted for intermediates, the rain persisted enough to justify the choice, removing any uncertainty for the day's winner who crossed the finish line overwhelmed with emotion.
"The fans have been the best this weekend as they are every year. I honestly do believe that we have the best fans in the world here. There were more people than I think I've ever seen here, and energy, it was electric today.
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