Lewis Hamilton cruises to fourth F1 British Grand Prix

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has closed to within four points of team-mate Nico Rosbery in their World Championship fight with victory in the British GP at Silverstone.

Hamilton became the first driver to win a hat-trick of Silverstone grands prix on Sunday when he finished 6.9 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Hamilton’s win also pulls him level with Nigel Mansell with four wins in the event.

Hamilton led every lap of the race but it remains to be seen whether Hamilton is now the title leader after Rosberg, who crossed the line in second place, finished the race under investigation by the race stewards for receiving radio instructions from his team.

"I don't know if you can be as happy as me, I'm really happy," said Hamilton. "It's never clean sailing which what makes this spectacular - that is why the British Grand Prix is the best grand prix we have."

Rosberg, who was booed on the podium, suffered a gearbox glitch in the closing stages which prevented him from using seventh gear.

The Silverstone stewards are investigating whether Mercedes broke the sport's new radio crackdown when they issued a series of the instructions to their driver as Rosberg grappled with the problem.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished third after a ding-dong battle with Rosberg on the track. 

After overtaking the Mercedes as the Silverstone circuit dried out following a pre-race downpour, Verstappen then lost time running wide at Turn One before being overtaken by Rosberg at Stowe with ten laps remaining.

Heavy rain 15 minutes before the start meant that the race started behind a safety car and Hamilton once again proved himself the master of wet conditions. Once the safety car came in the British driver opened up a lead of almost four seconds on the first lap and he controlled the race from that moment.

Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth, half a minute behind Hamilton on another dominant weekend for the Mercedes steamroller, while Ferrari’s Kim Raikkonen finished fifth.

Raikonnen’s team-mate and former world champion Sebastian Vettel finished ninth.