German driver Sebastian Vettel delivered a spectacular performance yesterday to win the British Grand Prix in front of a partisan crowd and extended his lead in the Formula One Championship standings to eight points after 10 of 21 races.

Vettel in his Ferrari machine shook off a neck pain he had in the qualifiers on Saturday to pass the leader and home town favourite Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes car in the home stretch to secure the title.

The win carried Vettel to 171 points eight points clear of Hamilton who finished second, while another Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen was third .

Hamilton, who started in pole position after setting an electrifying track record to beat Vettel in qualifying, was going for a fifth straight victory in his home race and his sixth overall to beat the record of five he shares with Jim Clark and Alain Prost.

However it was not to be as Vettel ruled the day.