All season the talk has been of Formula 1 being faced with some sort of existential crisis, but the sport put on its best face for a thrill-a-minute British Grand Prix in front of the biggest Silverstone crowd for more than 20 years.

Lewis Hamilton's superb victory, the climax of an afternoon of action and drama enlivened by a late downpour, showcased all that is good about F1, and 140,000 fans were treated to what was undoubtedly the race of the year so far.

A race desperately needed

It was a race that, to be fair, F1 needed. The 2015 world championship had crackled a little over its previous eight events, but there had not been a moment when it had really caught fire. Not until now, anyway.

Hamilton's 38th career victory was undoubtedly one of his best but for it to end up that way, rather than the routine cruise it had looked like being, it needed something unusual to happen. The electric starts of both Williams drivers provided it.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas got off the line "like missiles," as Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff put it afterwards, Massa blasting past Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg as if they were not there, and Bottas passing the German as well.

Briefly, it looked as if Bottas would get Hamilton, too, but the world champion's racing instincts got him back into second place after Bottas left the door open at Turn Four.

Hamilton lost the place anyway, though, when after a safety-car period to clear up the mess left by a first-lap pile-up, he just failed to pass Massa on the re-start, ran a little wide and Bottas sneaked by.