Lewis Hamilton won a race-long battle with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in a thrilling wet-dry British Grand Prix to take his first victory since December 2021.

His success broke the record for most race wins at a single circuit, with nine victories at Silverstone.

There is a week-long break before the drivers race again at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

BBC Sport F1 Correspondent Andrew Benson answers your questions after the race at Silverstone.

What gave Mercedes such an edge during the British Grand Prix weekend? – Mark

Mercedes had their most competitive weekend since 2021, taking the front row and Lewis Hamilton winning the race.

They have now won two races in a row, after George Russell took victory in Austria the week before Silverstone after the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. And they have taken two pole positions in the last four races, after Russell’s in Canada.

While it may feel like Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone came out of the blue – and it was his first since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – it was in fact the culmination of a process that Mercedes has been engaged in for some time.

This led to a series of upgrades to the car, starting with a new bodywork at the Miami Grand Prix, followed by a new floor at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and a new front wing, which was introduced at the Monaco and Canada races.

But the bigger question is: how, after two years of struggling, where they seemed to have no answer to the question of how to make the car competitive, have they arrived at this point where they seem to understand the rules that came into place in 2022 and are making consistent progress?

Team boss Toto Wolff said on Sunday: “Five races ago we were not even in contention for the podium and it looked like we were not performing for the third year in a row. Then the penny dropped.

“Suddenly everything that wasn’t right was right, and the results of the development direction were back to square one: we were looking for performance and applying it to the car.”

He was asked how and why, and he gave credit to technical director James Allison, saying: “There was a point where, under James’ leadership, the data suddenly made sense and the gap. The way we were making it, the way we were balancing the car, and how we could get it into a better sweet spot.

“That was the most important thing. It wasn’t a miraculous front wing; it was more the balance we achieved.”

Why were they more competitive last weekend than at the Red Bull Ring, while they didn’t make any major changes between Austria and Silverstone? It must be the track characteristics.

A rival team boss, asked if he was surprised by Mercedes’ performance, said: “No, it was already clear that they were very competitive in fast corners. And Silverstone is full of them.”

So this result doesn’t necessarily mean Mercedes will continue to win, but it does seem to prove they are solid leaders again. And they have further upgrades for the next two races in Hungary and Belgium.

Do you think Hamilton regrets his move to Ferrari now that Ferrari has declined and Mercedes has become more competitive? – Dave

Hamilton was asked this question twice last weekend at Silverstone.

The first was during the pre-event press conference, when he was asked whether he would still have made the decision to join Ferrari in 2025 if Mercedes had performed at this level at the end of last year. His answer was: “Yes.”

After winning the race, he was asked if the victory gave him mixed feelings about leaving Mercedes behind next year.

He said: “No. When we started the season and we had a car that we couldn’t get close to Red Bull, for example, and it didn’t look like we were ever going to get a win during the year, for me it felt like a bit of a mixed feeling at the end of the season, where you haven’t had anything like today.

“We’ve all really come together, everyone’s done a great job to get the car to a place where we feel much more comfortable and which is really different to last year’s base.

“So I’m not leaving on a down note, but on a high note, and that has always been our goal.

“There’s still a long, long way to go but the car is certainly not the fastest car on the grid at the moment. We’re very close and I think hopefully with a few upgrades, with the next upgrade maybe, we’ll be in an even stronger position to really, really fight more consistently on the front row.”

With so many different winners so far this year, how exciting will the drivers’ championship be? – Sammy Smith

This year’s Formula 1 championship is definitely in a very different situation after twelve races than it was after five races.

After the Chinese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull looked set for a repeat of the 2023 season, when they had the most dominant season in Formula 1 history.

Since Miami, Red Bull has faced a constant challenge from McLaren. Mercedes looks set to make it a triple win. There have been six different winners in twelve races so far this year.

That suggests the second half of the season, which starts in Hungary on July 19, will be extremely competitive and each individual race could have a number of potential winners.

But this period of increased competition has seen Verstappen significantly increase his championship lead.

After China he was 34 points ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and 52 points ahead of Lando Norris.

Norris has since climbed to second in the championship, but he is now 84 points behind Verstappen. Leclerc, who has had four very difficult races with Ferrari since his victory in Monaco, is 105 points behind.

McLaren could have won in Canada, Spain, Austria and Silverstone. But they didn’t win any of them, because Norris and his team made too many small mistakes, while Red Bull and Verstappen continued to operate with intimidating consistency.

There’s a reason why almost everyone in Formula 1 currently thinks Verstappen is the best driver in the world.

He could easily not have won a single race since China. Instead, he has won half of them. And when he doesn’t win, he continues to score big points.

If McLaren and Mercedes can beat Verstappen consistently with both cars, which remains to be seen, they could take a significant number of points off Verstappen.

But even if they did that at every race (which seems unlikely given current form), it would still be extremely difficult to close the gap between Norris and Leclerc and Verstappen.

That is why Verstappen is still the big favourite to win the title, even though he may not start with that status in the remaining races.

Also keep in mind that while Red Bull’s new floor didn’t seem to work that effectively at Silverstone, it was only their first race. And it’s believed they’ll be getting even more upgrades in Hungary.

Red Bull are in a tough spot – by their current standards – but they are still a formidable force.