Lewis Hamilton won his first Grand Prix in 945 days with a stunning triumph at the British Grand Prix.

In an enthralling race at Silverstone, Hamilton started second and emerged victorious in a race where starter on pole George Russell was forced into a shock retirement.

Hamilton held off rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who came second and third respectively with Norris leading in what was a thrilling first half of the race.

It’s the first time Hamilton has won a Grand Prix since December 2021 and the seven-time world champion broke a few records in the process.

The 39-year-old is the oldest driver to win a Grand Prix in the 21st century and perhaps more impressively he’s broken a long-standing record by Michael Schumacher.

This triumph is Hamilton’s ninth at Silverstone, which is the most at a single circuit in F1 history.

He was tied with Schumacher, who set the record in 2006 with eight wins at the French Grand Prix.

A tearful Hamilton said to his team on the radio after winning: “This means a lot guys.”

Hamilton then said to Mercedes engineer Peter Bonnington: “I love you Bono.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “I thought it would come like a fairytale here at Silverstone.”

Hamilton told Sky Sports after the race: “I can’t stop crying, it’s been since 2021 just everyday getting up to fight, to train and put my mind to the task and work as hard as I can with this amazing team.

“This is my last race here with this team so I wanted to win this so much for them because I love them and I appreciate them so much and all the hard work they’ve been putting in over the years, I’m forever grateful to everyone at this team at Mercedes and all our partners.

“And to all our incredible fans, I could see you lap by lap as I was coming round and there’s just no greater feeling than to finish at the front here.”

“It’s tough for anyone but the important thing is how you continue to get up and you’ve got to continue to dig deep even when you feeling the bottom of the barrel.

“There’s definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn’t feel like I was good enough or if I was going to get back to where I am today but the important thing is I have great people around me continuing to support me and my team.

“Every time I turn up and see them and put in the effort that really encouraged me to do the same thing.

“My fans when I see them around the world they have been so supportive so a big thank you to everyone back at the factory and everyone here I love you guys.”

It looked as though 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.

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.

Russell retired following a water system failure on his Mercedes.