Lewis Hamilton has won the British Grand Prix in slippery conditions at Silverstone.

The McLaren driver made the perfect start when he beat Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber to the first corner and almost overtook his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who started from pole position.

Hamilton settled in behind Kovalainen for several laps, but soon went past and dominated the race while some of his world title rivals struggled to cope with the conditions.

Hamilton said: "It is definitely by far the best victory I've ever had.

"It was one of the toughest races I've ever done. As I was driving I was thinking, 'if I win this it will definitely be the best race I've ever won'.

"That's not only because of its history, but also because I'm on home ground and I drove one of my best races ever."

Felipe Massa, who started the race at the top of the championship standings, slid off in the early stages and eventually finished 13th.

Nick Heidfeld finished a distant second and Rubens Barrichello was third.

Hamilton is now joint-leader of the drivers championship along with Massa and reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen.

He added: "I was coming to the last lap and I could see the crowd beginning to stand up and I was just praying, praying, praying, 'keep it on the track and just finish'.

"You could not believe the emotions inside. I wanted to push, get it round, and we did. The team did a fantastic job."

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