Lewis Hamilton has hailed winning at home in front of his loyal fans “the best feeling” following a difficult day on Saturday.
The Briton came through from sixth on the grid to claim a stunning victory after team-mate Nico Rosberg retired from the lead.
“Winning in front of your home crowd is just the best feeling,” he said. “We really do have the greatest fans here and thank you so much to everyone for your patience after yesterday. To see the support all around the track is just amazing.
“I said before that I’d never give up but it was a tough qualifying and I really needed to dig deep and come back positive this morning.
“A huge thank you to my family and all of the fans for pushing me on – I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Hamilton, who sits just four points behind leader Rosberg, admitted he wasn’t pleased to see his team-mate exit through reliability and would have preferred to pass him on track.
“Nico had a pretty big gap at the beginning of the race but I kept pushing and was happy with my pace. After extending my first stint, we switched to the prime tyres and I honestly couldn’t believe the pace that I had and was closing up to Nico,” he explained.
“Of course, he then had a problem and I saw him pull over. It’s a shame for the team and I never want to see a team-mate fall behind – I always want to battle it out – but I’m sure we will get to do it again in the future.
“It’s been a rollercoaster weekend and to come away with the win after a day like yesterday is fantastic, so thank you to everyone in the team for all their hard work. I’m proud to have done it for them here – so close to our factories in Brackley and Brixworth.”
