Hamilton is Greece lightning
Not Classified: Fastest lap: Pole: – he won pole position in qualifying, led every lap, recorded the fastest lap and finished top of the podium.
He needed everything to go his way to turn the title pendulum. It did.
A bonus for Hamilton was that Vettel was only seventh after a dramatic end to the race, which saw both the German and his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen pick up punctures that forced emergency pit stops. Raikkonen had been on course for second place and Vettel fourth but their late problems promoted Valtteri Bottas from third to second to gift Mercedes a one-two.
Raikkonen salvaged third but Vettel lost three places and his season-long lead over Hamilton was all but wiped out.
The two front-runners are also looking over their shoulders at Bottas, who closed to within 23 points of the lead with 10 races to go. The day was all about Hamilton, however, who celebrated by crowd-surfing and high-fiving as many fans as he could. He roared off the grid into a first-corner lead and drove off into the distance for one of the most emphatic wins of his career.
The three-time champion built such a commanding lead that he remained at the front even after his pit stop halfway through for a change of tyres. It looked simple but Hamilton said: “It’s never easy. The team were faultless. Valtteri had an incredible drive to go from ninth.
“The support has been incredible this weekend. I’m so proud I could do this for the fans. Now the plan is to win the championship.”
He could not resist a pop at those who had questioned his midweek jaunt to Mykonos. “There is no reason to question my preparations,” he said. “I have more pole positions than anyone.”
Vettel was overdue a bad day and he had one – to the delight of the British crowd.
He had a tense fight with Max Verstappen in the early laps, the two banging wheels out of Stowe corner.
He tried to put on a brave face. “The weekend could have been a little bit better, for sure,” he said. “But disaster? I don’t think so.”
Despite also pitting with two laps to go with a puncture, Verstappen was fourth thanks to Ferrari’s double trouble while his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo thrilled the crowd with a stirring drive from the back row to fifth.
Sixth-placed German Nico Hulkenberg capped a fine weekend with Renault’s best result since their return to F1 team ownership last year.
But now, after his fourth win of the season, Hamilton will feel confident of taking the lead in the championship for the first time at the Hungarian Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.
He has won in Budapest five times – that’s a record too – and his Mercedes will be expected to have an advantage again over Ferrari on a tricky circuit with long corners.
While Hamilton could celebrate, it was a bad day for his compatriot Jolyon Palmer, who is rumoured to be on the brink of losing his place in the Renault team.
The luckless Palmer did not even make the start after his car suffered hydraulic failure during the warm-up lap.