Lewis Hamilton claimed his first win in 945 days and took a record-extending ninth British Grand Prix victory on a wet, wild and emotional afternoon at Silverstone near the Oxfordshire border.

It looked as though Lando Norris would secure his maiden success on home soil but he was left exposed by his flat-footed McLaren team in the changeable conditions.

As the Northamptonshire track dried out following a splurge of rain, Hamilton, trailing Norris by two seconds, peeled into the pit-lane to switch from intermediate tyres to the soft rubber.

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Lewis Hamilton in action during the British Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton in action during the British Grand Prix (Image: PA)

Norris was critically left out one lap longer and when he emerged from the pits – after a sluggish 4.5 sec pit-stop – fellow Briton Hamilton had taken the lead to huge roars from the 164,000 sell-out crowd.

Hamilton rolled back the years over the remaining dozen laps to take his first victory since the penultimate round of the 2021 campaign in Saudi Arabia.

Max Verstappen finished second with Norris third as pole-sitter George Russell retired following a water system failure on his Mercedes.

“Get in there, Lewis,” yelled Hamilton’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington. “You are the man, you are the man. I have been waiting for this.”

Hamilton’s voice cracked as he replied: “Thank you so much, guys. It means a lot to get this one. I love you guys.”

Crying in his cockpit, Hamilton said: “I love you, Bono.”

With Hamilton heading to Ferrari next year, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said over the radio: “We will prevail.

"We never give up and what a sign-off for our last race at the British Grand Prix. We couldn’t wish for anything better.”