Lewis Hamilton has won the British Grand Prix for a record sixth time to increase his lead at the top of the Formula 1 World Championship.

Hamilton finished ahead of his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas (2nd), who started on pole, and Sebastian Vettel (15), who won last year’s race, to take his points total to 222.

Finishing off the podium was Ferrari youngster Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton’s seventh victory in 10 races so far this season means he now has a comfortable margin ahead of second-placed Bottas, and lengthened Mercedes’ lead in the Constructors' Championship.

The win also provided Hamilton with personal glory as he moved ahead of Jim Clark and Alain Prost to become the first driver to win the British GP on six occasions.

Hamilton was aiming to recover from the disappointment at finishing fifth in Austria at the end of last month, a race after which Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted that their cars may struggle in hot temperatures.

His attempts to start on pole were frustrated by a closely contested battle with Bottas and he eventually began the race second on the grid after finishing just 0.006 seconds behind the Finn in yesterday’s qualifying.

However, the 34-year-old turned in a typically confident performance to win at Silverstone for the fourth time in five years and put himself in a firm position to win a third successive championship.

Despite Hamilton winning a record-breaking sixth British Grand Prix, a lot of the post-race talk will be about Vettel crashing into Max Verstappen near the end of the race.

The Ferrari man was chasing down the Red Bull youngster, and he clearly got his manoeuvre totally wrong, smashing into the back of the Dutchman, causing them both to drive off the track.

Both of their races were ruined because of the incident, and it unsurprisingly left Verstappen fuming with Vettel.

Yet another race weekend where Vettel is in the headlines for the wrong reasons. It really is turning out to be a season to forget for the veteran.

The crowd, however, enjoyed Hamilton topping the podium on home soil in what was originally scheduled to be the last time the race would take place at Silverstone, until it was announced this week that their contract to host it has been extended until 2024.

Attention is now focused on the German Grand Prix in two weeks’ time, where the likes of Bottas and Max Verstappen will be feeling that they need to deny Hamilton another victory to stand any chance of winning the championship.

However, it's already looking very likely that the F1 world will be celebrating yet another world title for Hamilton.