British GP: ten F1 talking points from Silverstone

And by some distance, too.

For the first time this season, we were treated to some real racing action at the front of the grid, as Williams drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas made a sensational start to jump both Mercedes cars from the getaway.

And after regaining their places after the first round of pit stops before the half-way stage, the championship leaders were made to work for their one-two finish as some rain showers shook up the running order late on.

Perhaps it only felt so epic by the standards of F1’s recent damp squibs, but Silverstone was a return to form nonetheless.

The British fans were given the result they craved as Hamilton converted his pole position into a victory, albeit with some mild squeaky-bum time along the way.

Hamilton’s race-winning move came as the rain started to fall on lap 43. The Brit chose to pit from the lead for intermediate tyres, a call that teammate Nico Rosberg later said he believed was “wrong” at the time.

"I had to take that chance,” said the German. “Because just following Lewis into the box is a definite lose for me, so I might as well stay out for one more lap at least and it didn't work out."

Hamilton, who admitted to “tearing up” on the last lap, said: "The race was very tough. It was a very bad start for both of us, but if I'm honest it made it more exciting."

We concur.

If a British driver wasn’t going to win his home grand prix, the second-best outcome for the fans would have been a British manufacturer taking the top step of the podium.

It nearly happened too, as Felipe Massa stormed into the lead off the start, although teammate Valtteri Bottas looked quicker in second while his tyres were fresh in the opening part of the race.

The Finn said: “It would have been nice to have been able to race when I had the best opportunities, but I wasn't allowed to overtake. Then we were allowed to race after, but I never had that kind of opportunity again.”

More crucial to Williams’ eventual result were a couple of late pit calls, allowing Lewis Hamilton to make the undercut work on lap 20. Williams also pitted too late as it began to rain in the closing stages.

Race engineer Rob Smedley said the positioning of the cars gave Sebastian Vettel “15 seconds more” to judge the downpour, giving the German the edge in the battle for third.

Good fortune or not, Sebastian demonstrated the judgement of four-time world championship with his decision to pit in the rain, having diced with Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull earlier in the race.

Ferrari were visibly off the pace on a track much more suited to their rivals, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing a disappointing eighth having second-guessed the rain several laps too soon.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner felt that his young Russian driver would have been on course to beat Vettel to the podium had it not been for a mistake while the Ferrari driver was switching to inters.

"For the first time since Monaco, it felt we were in the race," said Horner. "Daniil had a spin on his in-lap where he lost 10 to 12 seconds, and then there was the deteriorating circuit…”

While Williams and Mercedes battled for the lead at the front, there was action at the back of the pack as Romain Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado and Jenson Button were all forced to retire.

The French Lotus driver forced his teammate into the air in an effort to recover from an incident moments before, while Fernando Alonso did the same to his colleague whilst trying to avoid the Lotuses.

Grosjean explained afterwards: "I then touched the Sauber which meant my front wing and front tyres were gone and that's why my car flicked to the left and Pastor was there.”

Jenson Button was equally downbeat having had hopes of giving the home crowd something to cheer about: “You still want to put on a good show and give it everything. I gave it everything for three corners.”

At least it was a corner further than his teammate managed last time out in Austria...

In the space of 21 seconds (yes, we timed it) the Venezuelan driver gave the Maldonado Bingo adjudicators several headaches as they attempted to come to an agreement on this week’s scores.

The numbers that aren’t in dispute are Pastor’s 10 points for being involved in an incident investigated by the stewards – no blame was apportioned to anyone after the race – and the 25 points for crashing out of the grand prix.

Then it gets a bit tricky. The official Maldonado Bingo judging panel decided that Pastor also gets 10 points for exceeding track limits – once during his accident and once to retire – and 50 points for being involved in a collision that caused damage to other cars.

This is on the basis that Lotus and McLaren’s incidents were causally connected, meaning Grosjean and Button’s retirements scored 20 points apiece, with Alonso’s trip to the pits for a new nose chalking up another 10.

There are no points for Maldonado getting further than his teammate, as they effectively retired on the same lap.

The Top Gear calculator works all that out as a total available haul of 95 points, with a maximum possible score of 85 points for players using their three pre-race choices. Time for a lie down.

One controversial feature of the race was Mercedes’ use of the ‘dummy’ pit stop, a manoeuvre employed to try and force Williams’ hand as Massa and Bottas led the race on lap 15.

The bluff failed to trip Williams up, although the Grove team may well have retained the race lead had they gone in for fresh rubber before the Mercs. Lewis Hamilton pitted first on lap 20, claiming the race lead soon after.

“We know that Williams has more difficulties in keeping the tyres until the end,” said Merc boss Toto Wolff. “So it was a bit of a game, which didn't function.”

Stunts like this are not technically allowed under the rules, although most teams accept that they are part of the competition.

On a lighter note, it later transpired that Toto’s wife – none other than Williams test driver Susie Wolff – had messaged her husband to say: “You guys think you can fool us?”

TG suspects Sunday evening may have been a frosty one in the Wolff household.

Lewis Hamilton’s main complaint after winning last year’s race at Silverstone was the absence of the golden trophy usually presented to the victor of the grand prix.

Hamilton’s 2014 British GP win (pictured above) was marked with a red, plastic-looking design which failed to impress the man who would go on to win the world championship.

"The gold one is really special,” said Lewis. “It would be great if each country had a real trophy like that, with character that grew over the years because of the history. I don't know why they don't make them the same anymore."

The regular gold decoration was eventually presented to him at the drivers’ press conference 12 months ago, although it was ready and waiting for him on the podium this time around. As a side-note, Lewis is now third on F1’s all-time pole list, behind legends Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

In spite of having to pit for a new front nose – which took a long time to attach - on the first lap, the Spaniard capitalised on the lack of finishers to break into the top ten for the first time this season.

Fernando said after the race: "It's not party time yet because it's only one point, but it's definitely good for the team and the morale of everyone after a few tough months.

"The team have been working day and night to keep improving the car, so it's a point on the table for the mechanics.”

Alonso had earlier claimed that McLaren had had their best qualifying of the year – despite both cars going out in Q1 – as their fastest lap was just a second and a half behind Ferrari.

Nice to see he’s still finding positives.

They might be the slowest cars on the grid, but Manor-Marussia’s reliability deserves recognition, with both cars reaching the end of their home grand prix.

Approaching the mid-point of the season, Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi have only a single retirement each to their name, while the McLaren drivers have an astonishing nine between them.

If only Manor had some points to reflect their efforts.

Nevertheless, team principal John Booth was pleased with Manor’s season-best finishes of twelfth and thirteenth, saying: “Both Will and Roberto delivered a strong performance today and it was nice to see everything coming together.

“The fans have been incredible all weekend, so I'm pleased we were able to shine a little in today's race…”