Lewis Hamilton is back on track for the world championship thanks to a pit-wall gamble during the rainlashed British Grand Prix that finally exorcised the ghost of his McLaren team's darkest hour.

Nine months ago, in China, the wrong call on tyre wear by Hamilton's engineers cost the British rookie a title triumph in his maiden season as a Formula One driver.

But at Silverstone they got it spot on and Hamilton today shone the spotlight on their role in one of the greatest wins seen at Silverstone.

He said: "While I just focused on making sure I didn't make any mistakes, they were doing such a great job in analysing the weather forecast and making sure we were on the right path."

On a radar screen tuned to track rain clouds, McLaren had spotted a new storm closing in on Silverstone and at the first pit stop chose to fit Hamilton's car with a new set of wet weather tyres offering greater grip from their deeper grooves.

Those tyres were to give Hamilton a crucial advantage over the chasing Ferrari of title-holder Kimi Raikkonen, who spun twice on his way to fourth place after the rain arrived.

Ferrari's error was similar to that made by McLaren in China, where they kept Hamilton out on a wet track for too long. When he was finally called into the pits he lost control on tyres worn down to the canvas and spun into a gravel trap.

McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh admitted that the Chinese nightmare had preyed on his team's thoughts while they considered what to do at Silverstone.

"It was shades of that race," he said. "This time we got it absolutely right. We clocked that Ferrari hadn't changed tyres and we just hoped that our weather information was correct."