The protestors, from the Just Stop Oil activist group, sat down on the Wellington straight during lap one, with the race red flagged just before the cars reached the group after Guanyu Zhou’s crash seconds earlier at Abbey.

“I guess there was some talk about it, I think everybody is free to have their own view on it,” four-time world champion Vettel said after the race.

Lewis Hamilton says he “loves people fighting for the planet” after seven people were arrested following an invasion of the track at the start of the British Grand Prix – later adding that such protests “must be done safely.”

As the contest was immediately red flagged following Guanyu Zhou’s heavy crash at Abbey and cars headed for the pits, protestors broke on to the circuit at the Wellington Straight before sitting down.

Hamilton, who was only told about the focus of the protest in the post-race press conference and was not aware of the method chosen, backed their cause – with those who entered the track wearing T-shirts protesting against global oil usage.

After originally quipping “big up the protestors”, Hamilton later elaborated: “I didn’t know what the protest was for and I’ve only just found out.”

The seven-time world champion was in the lead of the race having not pitted following the first lap restart and was comfortable on medium tyres.

Yet when Mercedes brought Hamilton in on lap 33, instead of the quicker but less durable soft tyres, the Silver Arrows put the Brit on the safer hard compound to see out the remaining 19 laps of the race. However he did pit again due to a late safety car.

Zhou Guanyu escaped without serious injuries thanks to his car’s halo after a terrifying accident, as did Roy Nissany in Formula Two earlier in the day.

Ferrari’s Sainz took his maiden F1 victory at his 150th attempt – beating Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and home favourite Lewis Hamilton in a frenetic climax to the race of the season in front of a record 142,000 fans at Silverstone.

But the 10th round of the campaign will be remembered for a jaw-dropping accident involving Chinese rookie Zhou.

Six seconds after the lights went out, Pierre Gasly made contact with George Russell. The British driver then tagged the right rear of the Zhou’s machine at 160mph, flipping him on to his roof and sliding out of control.

Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu credited the ‘halo’ for keeping him alive following his harrowing first-corner crash at Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Here we take a closer look at the Formula One’s cockpit protection device.

A three-pronged titanium safety device which sits above the driver’s head. It is covered with carbon fibre and weighs seven kilograms.

The halo’s job is to absorb a huge impact and to protect the driver from severe head trauma. Remarkably, it can take the weight of a London double decker bus.

A combination of crashes, Safety Cars, problems to other vehicles and some fantastic late overtaking saw the seven-time champion finish on the podium for the first time since the opening round of the 2022 season in Bahrain, after a campaign of struggle with porpoising and control issues in the new Mercedes car.

But on a day when around 120,000 fans attended race day at Silverstone, Hamilton – who did briefly lead the race – praised the occasion as F1 at its best and hoped the performance could set a platform for improvement across the rest of the year.

“We’ve had the biggest show-up in history, thanks for this incredible support – we don’t see this anywhere else in the world,” he said after the race.

Max Verstappen empahsised the importance of scoring points after a tricky day at the office at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Championship leader was winning the race early on before a puncture curtailed his chances, with damage to the bodywork also hampering his performance at Silverstone.

Despite his misfortune, the world champion picked up six points with his Championship lead going into the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend now 34 points from team-mate Sergio Perez.

“An unlucky afternoon,“ he said on Instagram. “We were on it from the beginning of the race, after getting of the line great on both occasions. “After picking up debri my floor was severely damaged and we struggled throughout the race. I gave it my all for P7 and collected important points. We’ll keep pushing to come back stronger in our home race in Austria, can’t wait to see the support by the Orange Army.”

Enthralling, thrilling and spine-chilling in equal measure, where on earth to begin to describe this one as the sun sets at Silverstone for another year? Well it’s quite simple really: at the beginning. Because for all the nerve-shredding overtakes, questionable strategy calls and shreds of fortune that followed in a brilliant British Grand Prix – won deservedly by first-time victor Carlos Sainz – the stakes in the opening 20 seconds at lights out could not have been much higher.

While the eyes of a record 140,000 spectators were glazed at the battle of the front, with Max Verstappen overtaking Sainz into turn one, what followed behind encapsulates the mouth-watering madness of high-speed motorsport. It was only a light touch from Pierre Gasly, sandwiched in between George Russell and Guanyu Zhou, but it was enough.

Mick Schumacher was relieved that he had silenced his critics after scoring the first points of his Formula 1 career at the British Grand Prix.

The Haas driver was involved in a battle with Max Verstappen for seventh in the closing stages but nonetheless crossed the line eighth for the moment he had been waiting for, in the 32nd F1 race of his career.

“I think overall we are really happy coming back from P19,” he told F1.com.

“I said we had the speed to go forwards and we definitely showed it today.

“It’s great for the team, we have the double score in the points. That’s obviously very helpful in the Constructors’, but also for me I think it’s great to just get those questions from the media away and focus on what’s really important and that’s the racing and the driving in itself.”

Charles Leclerc has spoken of his ‘disappointment’ after finishing the British Grand Prix in fourth – having led the way for much of the dramatic 52-lap race.

The Ferrari driver did not pit for new tyres during the final safety car period, while rivals around him such as team-mate Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton stopping for fresh rubber.

It meant Leclerc was a sitting duck despite his best efforts, ending up off the podium and the Monegasque had a sly dig at his own Ferrari team in an Instagram post after the race.

“Well done to @carlossainz55 on realizing a childhood dream, you deserve it mate,” he said.

“On my side, I’m incredibly disappointed. Damaged car in lap 1 but we were flying. Great fights on track but I couldn’t do much more having old tyres at the end of the race.”