Rain master Hamilton storms to home win

By Alan Baldwin

SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton blew away his rivals to win his home British Grand Prix on Sunday and storm back to the top of the Formula One standings.

Hamilton, now locked in a three-way tie at the top with Ferrari's Felipe Massa and world champion Kimi Raikkonen, mastered the rain to silence his critics with one of the all-time great performances in the wet.

The 90,000 capacity crowd, without a home winner since David Coulthard won for McLaren in 2000, stood and roared as the 23-year-old took the chequered flag a staggering 68.5 seconds ahead of BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

Adding to the sense of astonishment, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello clambered on to the podium for the first time since 2005 -- when he was at Ferrari -- to almost double Honda's season points tally.

Hamilton, who had started a disappointing fourth on the grid, lapped everyone but Heidfeld and Barrichello to seal his third victory of the season and seventh in 26 starts.

The 10 points put him level on 48 with Massa, who was 13th and last after spinning five times on a calamitous afternoon for the Brazilian, and world champion Raikkonen but ahead of both on race finishes.

Raikkonen, last year's winner at Silverstone, finished fourth after Ferrari took a gamble on the fickle British weather and lost.

Poland's Robert Kubica, who would have retaken the championship lead had he held on to third place, skidded into the gravel with 20 laps to go and slipped to fourth overall with 46 points at the halfway point of the season.