The McLaren team has admitted that it was impressed with the serenity of Lewis Hamilton's winning performance in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, despite the Briton not always being able to see where he was going.

McLaren has paid tribute to the way in which Lewis Hamilton kept his head while all around were losing theirs during the rain-hit British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.

The Briton bounced back from a tough build-up to the race, capped by a mistake in qualifying that restricted him to fourth on the grid, to claim one of his most convincing victories and throw himself right back into the championship battle. With the exception of second-placed Nick Heidfeld, just about everyone else in the field succumbed to the treacherous - and ever-changing - conditions, with spins of varying severity creating an unusual look to the results, and setting up a three-way tie at the top of the world championship.

"I can't emphasise enough just how cool and collected Lewis stayed during the race," McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh marvelled, "He was under immense pressure not only to get a result, but also not to make a mistake - in some of the trickiest conditions he has ever driven in. That he managed to do so with such calmness and presence of mind is astounding.

"Over the radio, it sounded as if Lewis was on a quiet Sunday drive. He was relaxed and calm, nothing seemed too difficult for him. After the first stop, we were aware of the situation with Kimi's tyres and duly informed Lewis - and, even before his second stop, we urged him to look after the car and measure his pace as a precaution in the weather conditions.

"We even recommended he ease his pace into the closing laps and he came back on the radio and told us he was already driving as slowly as he could!"

Hamilton's race was not without problems, however, and not long after he had scythed his way past polesitting team-mate Heikki Kovalainen at Stowe, he began to suffer visibility problems. The Briton could frequently be seen wiping and adjusting his visor on the 200mph run down the Hangar Straight, and Whitmarsh confirmed that there had been concern as to how bad the problem was.

"Midway through the middle stint, Lewis came on the radio and told us he was having significant visibility problems," he revealed, "We weren't sure of the extent of the problem, but later found out that he was having a fogging problem on the right-hand-side of the visor - and opening the visor just a little was causing the rain to flood into his helmet.

"We radioed him to ask if he wanted to pit early, but he told us he could cope with the problem - that's a testament to just how cool and calm he remained during the race. We took the decision on the pitwall to clean his visor on the inside and outside and positioned one of the mechanics to do so during his second stop. It's actually a very rare occurrence and this sort of fogging problem has not occurred before."

Third-placed Rubens Barrichello underlined the virtue of switching to Bridgestone's extreme wet tyre at the height of the rain, lapping anything up to eight seconds faster than his rivals but, even though Hamilton apparently questioned whether it was worth him switching to the heavily-grooved rubber, McLaren convinced him that the conditions would improve.

"At the beginning of the race, we knew it was going to stop raining shortly before the start, but that there would be a light shower at 1pm which had a 50:50 chance of hitting the circuit," Whitmarsh explained, "We also knew there was heavier rain forecast for the middle sector of the race, and it was fortunate that the heaviest rain showers were only brief.

"It coincided with one of the busiest and most chaotic sectors of the race, as many drivers struggled to cope with the standing water, and, just before Lewis's second stop, he actually questioned over the radio whether it was worth switching to extremes. We reassured him that our weather forecast was predicting the rain would clear up, and happily that proved to be right."