One of the most greatest things you can do in your Formula 1 career is have a victory in your home country. It only took Lewis Hamilton two years to accomplish that feat as he took victory Sunday in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in a difficult wet race winning by over a minute ahead second-place finisher Nick Heidfeld.
"This was the toughest race, but also one of the best ones I have ever driven," Hamilton said. "It was so extreme and slippery out there, very similar to the Japanese Grand Prix in Fuji last year. I had troubles with my visor and tried to clean it a couple of times. I thank my team for a great job; they did fantastic work and we always made the right decisions with the tires in the difficult conditions. When I came round the last time, I saw the crowd standing up and I prayed: 'Just finish, just finish.'
"It was a very emotional moment to win my home grand prix, and I want to dedicate this victory to my family. As everybody knows, I had some troubles over the past few weeks, and they have always been there for me and supported me."
For Nick Heifeld it was "close, but no cigar" once again. "It was a good race," Heidfeld said. "I am happy with second place because today it was the best I could achieve. Qualifying went well and in the race we did everything right. Obviously, it was crucial to make the right tire decisions. At the first stop we were wondering if we should stay with the used set of inters, but luckily we then decided on new tires. We were expecting a small shower, but when I drove down Hanger Straight and saw a black wall in front of me, I thought I should expect more than that!"
"The most difficult moments in the race were when cars were overtaking me who had been lapped but were just on better tires for the conditions at that time. There was so much water, and I couldn't see where it was lying. Once before Abbey I almost spun but just managed to keep the car on the track."
For Hamilton it had been a season of ups and downs. Amazing moments like wins at Australia and Monaco and disappointing moments like at Canada where ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen on pit road.
Another feel good story was that Rubens Barrichello had a podium finish for the first time since left Ferrari back in 2005.
"It's a great feeling to be back on the podium today after such an exciting race where the weather conditions really helped us to get the best out of the car. The most important decision of the race for us was switching to the extreme wet tire when the heavy rain started to fall at half distance. I had a real moment at Club, going off at high speed and almost hitting the wall, and that made me realize that we needed to make a quick decision. After fitting the extreme wets, I was able to overtake the cars in front easily, which was a great feeling. Making such a crucial decision at a key time comes from experience and from the team having the confidence in me to make the call."
"I would like to say a big thank you to the team today -- to everyone back at the factory and also in Japan. Life is about learning from your experiences, and we have been through some tough times over the last couple of years. But I always had faith that there were good times ahead and I know there are plenty more to come."
Kimi Raikkonen, Heikki Kovalainen, Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli and Kazuki Nakajima rounded out the top 8 postions.
Meanwhile the battle for the world championship has tighten up even more as Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are all tied for the points lead and Robert Kubica is only two points behind. The next race is the German Grand Prix in two weeks at Hockenheim.
Hamilton earns historic victory in British GP [Motorsport.com]
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