British Grand Prix goes on..

Maybe he could splash out and save it

since 2014. As he climbed over a 12-feet fence on the pit straight and crowd-surfed with his adoring fan base, Hamilton truly looked at home.

He admitted: “That’s a feeling I can’t really describe.

“It feels amazing to be up here. I’m so proud to see these great flags everywhere.

“The support this weekend has been immense. I’m really proud I could do this for you all.

“The team were faultless this weekend, Valtteri Bottas did an incredible job as well so it’s the perfect weekend for us. There’s a long, long way to go in the championship.”

To raise his mood even more, both Ferraris blew a front-left tyre in the afternoon’s closing stages.

It forced

Germany’s

Sebastian Vettel into an emergency pit stop, dropping him from fourth to seventh, and meant his 20point lead over Hamilton at the start of the race was slashed to just one.

Hamilton also completed the perfect weekend with the fifth Grand Chelem – pole position, fastest race lap and leading for every lap of the race – of his career.

That puts him joint second with

Michael

Schumacher and

Alberto

Ascari, and three behind all-time leader Jim Clark. Hamilton added: “I am loving driving. I feel like I am at my prime and I feel I am driving better than ever.

“I’m not here for fun and giggles, I’m here to win this championship.”

He still has to get in front of Vettel but the German’s late misfortune has certainly made that an easier proposition at the mid-point of the season, even if Vettel took heart from the race.

Vettel, 30, said: “The weekend could have been a little bit better, but disaster? I don’t think so. We had a good car, especially in the corners, the balance was alright.

“In the race, the brakes caught fire from the start and from then it was a difficult race.”