F1: Silverstone thriller ignites title race

Lewis said: "This is the greatest race of the year and this is the greatest crowd and I'm sorry I wasn't able to bring it home for you, but thank you for your support. It's you guys that helped me get through today. We'll take it on the chin and keep pushing hard, because believe me I will not give up. I will not give up.

"The team did an amazing job this weekend and we've got so much support but so much pressure for us all. We will do what we can to fight them and improve in the next races, but I'm just so grateful for all the support we had here.

"I sweated my arse off in that race. I pushed absolutely 1,000 per cent. Every bit of energy I had. I didn't have anything left when I came in. I was struggling to stand. It's so physical nowadays. It's different when you're in the lead and can control the pace. I was coming from last."

Valtteri, who was leading the race with only a handful of laps to go, slipped down to finish fourth after his tyres eventually lost grip. He too could not hide his frustration after yet another commanding performance.

Valtteri added: "I'm very disappointed, leading the race and then dropping to fourth in the last few laps feels pretty bad. The others pitted under the safety car, but we took the risk and stayed out to get ahead of Sebastian. It worked out initially, everything felt fine in the beginning. I was giving it everything I could in the re-starts, I had to push like in qualifying, but with about five laps to go, the tyres just could not take it any more."

After an intense run of three back to back races – a first in F1 history – the Silver Arrows have a chance to catch their breath before heading to their second ‘home’ race; the German Grand Prix on July 22nd.