McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain gestures as he is greeted by his team technicians, as he crosses the finish line to win the Britain F1 World Championship race at the Silverstone racetrack, in Silverstone, England, yesterday. - AP

SILVERSTONE, England (AP):

Lewis Hamilton mastered wild and wet racing conditions to score an impressive runaway victory at the British Grand Prix and throw the Formula One drivers championship wide open.

After failing to collect a single point from his previous two races in Canada and France, Hamilton would have been in trouble if the same had happened in front of his home fans at Silverstone yesterday. But the 23-year-old British driver, who threw away a 12-point lead with two races left in his rookie season last year, stayed in control of his car and his emotions to achieve a remarkable victory on the rain-soaked track.

Many rivals

His rivals, many of them unsure what tyres to use, repeatedly spun or veered off the track.

Hamilton led from lap four in his McLaren to win his first British GP and take the lead in the overall championship which is getting more exciting with every race.

He lapped all but two of the field and finished over a minute ahead of Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber. Honda's Rubens Barri-chello was third for his first podium in four years and Honda's first of the season.

"It is by far the best victory I've ever had," Hamilton said after waving to the 90,000 fans who gave him a standing ovation after his runaway 68.5-second victory.

"The conditions were bad and as I was driving I thought, 'If I win this, it will be the best race I've ever done'. On my last lap, I could see the crowd starting to rise to their feet and I was just praying, praying, praying I could get the car round.

"You could never imagine the emotions that were going on inside. I wanted to push, I wanted to get around. It was so extreme out there. I was having big problems with my visor. I couldn't see a thing."

Hamilton's third victory of the season gives him a total of 48 points, level with Ferrari's Felipe Massa and fourth-place finisher Kimi Raikkonen in a drivers championship which is neck and neck at the halfway stage of the campaign with 10 more races to go. Robert Kubica, who dropped out after 39 laps after spinning off the circuit in his BMW Sauber, is only two points behind with 46.

But there was nothing close about this victory for Hamilton. After the experience of going so close to last year's title, however, he's saying little about this season's chances.

"It's a work in progress, we're doing a good job and I just want to keep on building on it," Hamilton said. "I would have been happy with a point."

Barrichello had been in the points only twice before this season, placing sixth at Monaco and seventh in Canada.