Lewis Hamilton recovered from sixth on the grid to win the British Grand Prix in front of his home crowd at Silverstone this afternoon.

There was drama in just the first lap when Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa of Williams collided, which resulted in the race being stopped for an hour while the necessary repairs were made to the barriers and debris was cleared from the track.

Hamilton maintained his composure, though, as he moved through the field, before he eventually claimed the lead from his teammate Nico Rosberg during the 29th lap.

Then, just one lap later, Hamilton tightened his grip on first place when championship leader Rosberg was forced to withdraw from the race because of a mechanical problem.

When Hamilton took the chequered flag, he did so with a 30-second lead over Valtteri Bottas, who claimed second spot, while Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo took third place.

The outcome means that Hamilton is now just four points shy of Rosberg in the standings.

British GP result

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
4. Jenson Button (McLaren)
5. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
6. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
7. Kevin Magnussen (McClaren)
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
9. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
10. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
11. Sergio Perez (Force India)
12. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
13. Adrian Sutil (Sauber)
14. Jules Bianchi (Maurissa)
15. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham)
16. Max Chilton (Maurissa)

Retired: Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Marcus Ericsson (Caterham), Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber), Felipe Massa (Williams), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)