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Lewis Hamilton revels in England's World Cup win and his victory in France

Mercedes driver celebrates taking lead of the world championship on a day of triumph for England's football and cricket teams

Lewis Hamilton was delighted to have played his part in England's super Sunday success story after retaking the lead of the world championship with victory in the French GP.

On a day when England triumphed 6-1 over Panama in the World Cup, and England's cricket team beat Australia to wrap up a 5-0 whitewash in their one-day series, the country's most successful driver in F1 history secured victory number 65 with a serene display in the south of France.

Hamilton cruises to victory in France

Hamilton had admitted beforehand he would be unable to avoid England's World Cup group match with the game finishing shortly before F1's first French GP in a decade.

"It's a great day for England," said Hamilton. "Everyone was watching and when l left the garage l saw it was 6-0 and l was like 'that is fricking awesome'.

"I did the laps to the grid and when l came back in l saw it was 6-1. I'm really happy for them and l hope they can continue to perform like that. I don't know how England would be able to take it though if we did win the World Cup. It's been such a long, long time."

On his own triumph, Hamilton added: "It's a great day for the UK and I hope that I've contributed in a positive way to that."

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The Stevenage-born racer now leads Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel by 14 points in the standings just two weeks after the German enjoyed a thumping victory of his own in Canada.

Pivotal to the turnaround in performance was the introduction of Mercedes' 2.1 spec engine, with the Silver Arrows simply too powerful for their rivals after around-the-clock work at their Brixworth factory.

"It's been such a great weekend and l want the guys back at Brixworth to know how grateful l am," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "It's been incredible teamwork."

Ominously for their rivals, Mercedes are believed to have more car improvements in the pipeline for the upcoming races at Austria and Silverstone.

"We'll take every little bit we can get," added Hamilton.

Hamilton criticises Vettel penalty - but not Vettel
In the race's biggest talking point, Vettel collided with Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the first corner before recovering to finish fifth.

While Hamilton was outspoken in his criticism of what he perceived as a lenient punishment for his rival, he was insistent that Vettel didn't deserve to be rebuked for the latest in an increasingly-long list of mistakes from the Ferrari driver.

"I don't feel that he's particularly made more mistakes," said Hamilton. "We're all on the edge, we're fighting for the world championships, we're not pootling around, we're out there putting our lives on the line, we're out there putting the cars as far beyond the edge as we can in the safest manner. It's not like a train track, you don't just stay on the rails. Sometimes you can go off. We're only human."

Cool, calm and collected Hamilton cruises to victory
Analysis of Hamilton's victory from the Sky F1 team...

Martin Brundle: "I sometimes think that Lewis thinks 'right, I'm going to have to get on with this now' and he just cleans up when he is fully engaged.

"It really struck me l saw him photographing his own car earlier. It's fascinating to hear how motivated and excited he is. Mercedes have made a step forward and Lewis won at a canter."

Ted Kravitz: "Hamilton had it all under control. He took care of the engine from very early on and completely controlled it. He won by seven seconds but it might as well have been 30 seconds - it could have been 30 seconds. It's another case of going from a bad weekend to a good weekend for Lewis Hamilton - and he tends to do that."

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