Lewis Hamilton claimed a stunning victory at his home race to rapturous applause from the 120,000 British fans at the Silverstone circuit.
The Mercedes driver went from sixth to fourth at the start, but a red flag caused by Kimi Raikkonen stopped his progress through the field as repairs were carried out to the circuit.
Once an hour had passed, the race restarted and it took just a handful of laps for Hamilton to close up on team-mate Nico Rosberg who led from pole position.
The Briton closed in on his team-mate and looked set to mount a challenge for the lead, but gearbox reliability hit Rosberg and for the first time this season he retired from the race, handing victory to Hamilton which sent the sell-out crowd into overdrive.
Valtteri Bottas climbed from 14th to second to take his second podium finish in what was a stunning drive through the field as he utilised Williams straight-line speed advantage.
Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium, eventually finishing just 0.8 seconds ahead of Jenson Button who dropped down from third on the grid to fourth.
An intense battle played out behind the Briton though, with Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso duelling for some ten laps at the end, each complaining about the other running wide and using DRS illegally. Alonso will certainly rue a start error which saw him too far forward in his grid slot which brought about a five-second penalty.
The race was a dramatic one, particulary the opening lap. Raikkonen retired after crashing out, with his car registering 47G’s on impact. He walked away from the incident with a small limp as Ferrari reported bruising to his ankle.
Felipe Massa was also taken out as he tried to avoid the crash, but ended up with race-ending damage to his Williams.
Race Result – 2014 British Grand Prix:
| # | Driver | Team | Gap | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 25 | |
| 02. | V. Bottas | Wiliams | +30.1 | 18 |
| 03. | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | +46.4 | 15 |
| 04. | J. Button | McLaren | +47.3 | 12 |
| 05. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +53.8 | 10 |
| 06. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +59.6 | 8 |
| 07. | K. Magnussen | McLaren | +1 lap | 6 |
| 08. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +1 lap | 4 |
| 09. | D. Kvyat | Toro Rosso | +1 lap | 2 |
| 10. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11. | S. Perez | Force India | +1 lap | |
| 12. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | +1 lap | |
| 13. | A. Sutil | Sauber | +1 lap | |
| 14. | J. Bianchi | Marussia | +1 lap | |
| 15. | K. Kobayashi | Caterham | +2 laps | |
| 16. | M. Chilton | Marussia | +2 laps | |
| 17. | P. Maldonado | Lotus | +3 laps | |
| 18. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | Retired | |
| 19. | M. Ericsson | Caterham | Retired | |
| 20. | E. Gutierrez | Sauber | Retired | |
| 21. | F. Massa | Williams | Retired | |
| 22. | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | Retired |
