The 2017 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was all about one man - the home hero Lewis Hamilton. He secured his fourth win of the season with a dominant display which saw him lead every single lap from pole position. It is his fourth successive victory at Silverstone, joining Jim Clark and Alain Prost on five victories in total.
It was a Mercedes master class with Valtteri Bottas storming through from ninth on the grid to finish second. Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium on a miserable afternoon for Ferrari. Two late left-front tyre failures saw their race completely unravel.
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel was restricted to a seventh-place finish which saw his advantage slashed to just one point at the season's halfway mark.
Here's a round-up of the weekend's drama in Northamptonshire.
Hamilton proves his point
On Thursday, Hamilton arrived as a man under pressure. Still angry at not seeing his title rival Vettel severely punished for their ugly clash in Baku, he'd had an off-colour weekend in Austria where a gearbox penalty meant he could do no better than fourth.
24 hours earlier, F1 owners, Liberty Media had put on a spectacular event around Trafalgar Square and Regent Street. All 10 teams and 19 of the 20 drivers turned up to show off their driving skills, take selfies and sign autographs for hundreds of thousands of spectators.
Hamilton was not there - choosing to skip the event and spend a two-day holiday with friends in Greece.
Perhaps it wasn't the wisest move he's made but he's committed far worse (free telemetry anyone? - Belgium 2012 springs to mind). The British tabloids had a field day and made the most of their opportunity to have a severe dig at Hamilton's 'lack of connection' with the public.
This weekend, he let his driving do the talking, and he was in devastating form. His lap in qualifying was one of the best he's ever driven at Silverstone, going a staggering 0.6 seconds quicker than anyone else - a lifetime's gap by F1's standards. As soon as he converted his 67th pole position into a lead into the first corner, he had little else to bother him all afternoon.
His victory was as easy and comfortable as you would want.
He proved his point again and silenced the doubters in stylish fashion. Plus, the late drama in a fairly mundane Grand Prix has suddenly made him championship favourite.
Flaws at Ferrari
Ferrari's weekend never took off. They always looked slower than Mercedes and only a grid penalty for Bottas for changing a gearbox denied the Silver Arrows a potential front row lockout.
Although he was never a serious challenger to Hamilton, Raikkonen had one of his best weekends of the season. He was the faster driver at the Scuderia. Unfortunately, the rewards didn't come through with the final result. Ferrari struggled badly with tyre wear on the softer compound here and it showed, with dramatic consequences.
Raikkonen's tyre failure on lap 49 forced him into the pits and cost him second spot. A lap later, Vettel had a similar failure almost at the start of the lap. His slow lap back to the pits meant he would drop behind both Red Bulls and the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg.
Vettel's championship lead is now looking very shaky. His points buffer is down to just a single point and Mercedes have now had the faster package at every race since their struggles in Monte Carlo. Although Ferrari should bounce back in Hungary considering the characteristics of the track are similar to Monaco, Mercedes should dominate at many of the later circuits - especially Spa, Monza and Suzuka.
Hamilton now looks like the man with the form, the momentum and the championship battle under his control, even if he is still a point behind.
Palmer under pressure
While Hamilton had another memorable day with the home faithful, spare a thought for Jolyon Palmer. After a weekend where he showed more consistent speed, it all went wrong before the race even started. After qualifying an impressive 11th, he suffered a hydraulic leak on the formation lap and was forced to pull off the track before Stowe corner. In these instances, you have to feel sorry for the Brit, especially on home soil. He should ask Martin Brundle how it feels not to start a home race. He had a similar experience in 1994 when his Peugeot engine in his McLaren detonated as the lights switched to green.
Palmer's seat for next season is looking very insecure. Robert Kubica has become a serious challenge as he continues his unbelievable recovery after six years away following a rally accident.
Kubica is a class act, a faster driver and a box office name. He is likely to do a test in Budapest after the Hungarian Grand Prix and should he prove his capabilities in his hands again, looks like the favourite to become Nico Hulkenberg's teammate next season.
Palmer might end up at Sauber where former team boss Eddie Jordan has indicated a potential driver swap from Spa onwards with Pascal Werhlein. Either way, this is not a comfortable time for Palmer's long-term F1 career.
What future is there for Silverstone?
Speaking of a long-term future, Silverstone's F1 future is in jeopardy after the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) activated an exit clause in its current contract to stage the race.
The Northamptonshire track was meant to host the British Grand Prix until 2026 but has posted severe losses over the past two seasons. By activating this clause in the original deal, signed in December 2009 - the last British Grand Prix here will be staged in 2019.
The BRDC insisted they had no choice or face the possibility of bankruptcy. Liberty Media has expressed their disappointment at the news, especially on the eve of this weekend's event. Both sides want to renegotiate a new deal and I'm sure a new contract will be signed. Nonetheless, until that signature is confirmed by Derek Warwick and Chase Kerry, I'm afraid once again, the future of the British Grand Prix hangs in the balance.
The fans love the British Grand Prix, love Silverstone and love Lewis Hamilton. He heads to Budapest on a huge high and with the prospect of a fourth world championship looking more likely after Sunday's result.
