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Hamilton wins third British Grand Prix title (updated)

Xinhua, July 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Britain's Lewis Hamilton overcame a bad start and rain in late stage to win the British Grand Prix for the third time at Silverstone on Sunday.

Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa ran one-two in opening laps but Hamilton, starting from pole position, retook the lead after the first pit stops.

His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg also overtook the Massa and Bottas after rain arrived on lap 36 of the 52-lap race.

Rosberg took the lead when Hamilton made his second stop on lap 43.

Hamilton then switched to intermediate tyres and the strategy proved sucessful as he finished first in one hour 31 minutes and 27.729 seconds.

"For the first time in my life I made the perfect choice on tyres," Hamilton said on the podium. "I think it's the first time in my Formula 1 career I perfectly made the right choice as I could see the rain coming more. So I feel extremely happy about that."

It is Hamilton's third British Grand Prix win, fifth of this season and 38th overall. He has consolidated his leading position on the overall standings on 194 points, 17 ahead of Rosberg (177).

Rosberg took second in 1:31:38.685 and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, climbed to the third after pitting on the same lap as Hamilton in 1:31:53.172.

The German said after the race: "I was pushing hard to try and catch Lewis under difficult conditions but he made the better call and that is where I lost it. Fair play to him."

Massa finished fourth ahead of Bottas.

Daniil Kvyat finished sixth for Red Bull, followed by Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (Force India).

Fernando Alonso was 10th and scored his first point of the season for McLaren Honda.

The former world champion said, "I am not so excited. I know it is important for the team morale and motivation for everyone. The team is focused on the job, it is a long-term project but there are no magic solutions."

Seven drivers failed to finish including both Lotus tandem Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado , who were involved in a collision in the first lap. Endit