Lewis Hamilton was basking in the Silverstone rain on Sunday after winning the British Grand Prix with his "best-ever drive".
A masterful display in wet conditions thrilled a partisan crowd as the young Briton streaked to a 68.5-second win over BMW's Nick Heidfeld.
An emotional Hamilton heralded his third win of the season and the seventh of his Formula One career as "by far" his best ever.
"It was one of the toughest races I have ever done," said the Stevenage-born racer.
"I was thinking as I was driving that if I won it would definitely go down as the best - not only because of all the history and because it is my home ground, but because it is one of the best actual drives I have put together.
"Coming into the last lap I could see the crowds standing up and I was just praying I would finish. You could not imagine the emotions that were going on inside me."
Hamilton is the first Englishman to win at Silverstone since Johnny Herbert in 1995 and he was quick to pay tribute to the vocal Silverstone support.
He added: "I must say a huge 'thank you' to all the fans here. They have been incredible all weekend and without their support we couldn't have done this.
"This is the best weekend ever. The crowd deserve it, the country deserves it and the team does too."
Hamilton, 23, produced an excellent start and a superbly aggressive opening stint to take the lead early on, before going on to close the race out maturely.
The victory brings Hamilton his first points since winning at Monaco back in May and moves him up into a three-way tie at the top of the world championship. Hamilton now shares top spot with the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen, who finished fourth, and Felipe Massa, who took no points from a nightmare race.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis hailed the brilliance of Hamilton.
"To win your home race is always special, and so today is indeed a special day for Lewis," Dennis said.
"It was a magnificent Grand Prix, full of drama and it was won by a man who mastered the treacherous conditions faultlessly.
"Lewis' was one of those drives that will live in the memory for a long time - but it should be remembered that it was also the result of brilliant teamwork by our engineers and mechanics."
While Hamilton rose to meet the challenge his teammate Heikki Kovalainen struggled, and after starting on pole, eventually finished fifth.
Hamilton overtook Kovalainen in the early stages and the Finn had to battle hard, showing character to recover from two spins and rescue fifth place and four world championship points.
"Heikki qualified superbly and clearly showed that he too is truly world class," Dennis added.
"He shouldn't feel too disappointed today because he demonstrated once again that his racing skills are beyond question. His time will come."
(AFP via China Daily July 8, 2008)