Lewis Hamilton praised his own pit-stop calls as he completed a hat-trick of home victories by winning an entertaining British Grand Prix at a rain-hit Silverstone on this day in 2015.

The reigning world champion recovered from another poor start to seal a 38th career win and remain on course to equal his hero Ayrton Senna’s haul of three Formula One championships that season.

Home favourite Hamilton timed both of his pit-stops perfectly, firstly leap-frogging the fast-starting Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas – who had jumped the Mercedes duo from the start – and then putting on the intermediate tyres as the heaviest of the rain came, thus placating a push from team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Motor Racing – Formula One World Championship – 2015 British Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit
Lewis Hamilton timed his pit-stops perfectly to win the British Grand Prix in 2015 (David Davies/PA)

“The race was very very tough,” said 30-year-old Hamilton, who took top place on the podium ahead of Rosberg (second) and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (third).

“It was very slippery off the start but it made it more exciting when I was chasing down the Williams and it was very hard to get close and overtake.

“I got close enough on the first pit-stop and I came out ahead and then the rain came and I lost temperature on the front tyres. For the first time in my F1 career I made the perfectly right choice in terms of, I’m coming in now. So I feel extremely happy about that.”

The win was Hamilton’s fifth of the season, moving him 17 points clear of Rosberg at the top of the standings, and he would go on to be crowned world champion again that year.

Since then, Hamilton has won the British Grand Prix a further five times – taking his overall tally to eight, three clear of Jim Clark and Alain Prost – and improved his number of world titles to a record-equalling seven.