Lewis Hamilton: Silverstone has a new owner - spiritually at least

Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for a record-equalling fifth time on Sunday

The British Grand Prix was such a perfect weekend for Lewis Hamilton that it was as if he had written his own script.

Needing a good result to close the worryingly large championship gap to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton's victory and the German's seventh place meant a 19-point swing in the Mercedes driver's favour.
Criticised in some sections of the media for the way he had prepared - being the only driver to snub a high-profile event in London - Hamilton dominated the entire weekend, taking pole by more than half a second and driving away into a race of his own.
Keen to expand his ever-growing statistical achievements, he took his 67th pole position - only one short of Michael Schumacher's all-time record - and equalled legends Jim Clark and Alain Prost's tally of five British Grand Prix victories.
But the underlying message of the weekend might be even better for Hamilton than that.
The reduction in his points deficit may have come about because of a degree of fortune, but it reflects what appears to be a growing trend in performance towards Mercedes as one of the closest seasons in years reached its halfway point.

In a BBC Sport poll asking: 'Who is the British GP's greatest icon?', Hamilton came out top with 45%. Nigel Mansell was second with 33% and Jim Clark 22%

A perfect weekend

After the race, Hamilton was asked why he was so strong at Silverstone. "Because I own it," he replied, before breaking out into laughter.
He was joking, but you know what they say about words said in jest. Certainly at no point during the three days of track action at Silverstone did it look as if Hamilton was in any danger of losing this race.
Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was fastest in both Friday practice sessions, but in both cases there were extenuating circumstances and the underlying performance suggested Hamilton was on top.
On Saturday he proved it, with a spectacular qualifying lap, more than half a second clear of anyone else and three-quarters of a second quicker than the Finn. The fastest Ferrari - of Kimi Raikkonen - was 0.547secs adrift, despite an engine upgrade for this weekend.
And in the race, Hamilton was in a league of his own. He measured his pace in the first 15 laps or so but then he put the hammer down, pulling away from Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at a second a lap.
That advantage was clearly there when he needed it, or chose to use it - and his fastest lap was 0.9secs quicker than Raikkonen's, both set in the closing stages of the race.
Bottas' pace in the race, with a strong driver from ninth on the grid to finish second, underlined Mercedes' superiority around the fast sweeps of this classic track.

Hamilton claimed his first British Grand Prix victory in 2008, in only his second season in Formula 1

Mercedes moving ahead?

It was almost certainly Mercedes' most dominant performance of the year, but it reflects a wider development over the last few races.
Hamilton had lost ground to Vettel over the preceding two races and came to his home race 20 points behind the German. But those results came against the run of play.
Had it not been for a loose head rest in Baku, Hamilton would have won three of the last four races. Who knows, had a gearbox problem not led to a grid penalty and a disrupted weekend in Austria a week before Silverstone, he might have taken pole and won there, too.
The turning point was Monaco at the end of May, where Mercedes had their second bad weekend in three. A lot of work went in after that to find set-ups that were more effective at creating an even balance, and therefore working the tyres in an optimum way.
Vettel reminded everyone after the race of the immense progress Ferrari had made after a winless 2016, but he admitted he sees signs for concern.

Sebastian Vettel has claimed three victories this season and still leads Hamilton by one point despite his seventh place at Silverstone

"This year we have been, for the majority of the year, a match," the four-time champion said. "It has been probably true that in the last couple of races, Mercedes have been stronger but the real game changer is qualifying.
"They are able to turn up the engine. They are gaining 0.6secs on the straights. Baku it was 0.7secs, Austria it was 0.5secs. We need to be fair with that. That is something we can't do. We are working on it but it doesn't happen overnight.
"If you have the cars in front for the first lap, the race looks different. The car has been fantastic. There is no reason to panic or to worry. But for sure we need to be aware. There are a couple of advantages we need to work on and then it could be a different picture."
Vettel pointed out that Ferrari were "10km/h faster through Copse [corner] than Mercedes" in qualifying but admitted: "That's one corner. There are a lot of other corners. I think we are on the right track. Our car is good, our car is strong, especially on Sunday. We need to make sure we step it up on Saturday and then Sundays look different."
Vettel is right to pin-point qualifying, as a dig into the raw numbers reveals. In the first four races of the season, Mercedes had an average one-lap performance advantage over Ferrari of 0.141 seconds. Now, that number is 0.296secs. And taking the four races since Monaco on their own, it is a whopping 0.530secs.
If that trend continues at a twisty Hungary in two weeks' time, Ferrari have a problem.