Lewis Hamilton & Nigel Mansell: Who fought hardest for British GP triumphs?

Britain's Nigel Mansell and Lewis Hamilton have each won their home grand prix on four occasions

"Welcome to the club," said Nigel Mansell to Lewis Hamilton, whose victory last Sunday tied them on four British Grand Prix wins apiece.

Mansell was an out-and-out racer who wore his heart on his sleeve, while being prone to emotional outbursts.

Ditto, Hamilton.

But how do their achievements at the British Grand Prix compare?

The pride of Britain

Nigel Mansell won the final British Grand Prix to be held at Brands Hatch, in 1986

For Mansell and Hamilton, all of their British GP wins came in seasons when they contested the world title. Hamilton, the current world champion, has won the world title in each of the years in which he triumphed at Silverstone - 2008, 2014 and 2015.

We wait to see if he keeps up that record this year.

'Our Nige' was successful at home in 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1992, but it took until the last of those years to finally win his first world title, aged 39 - 16 years older than Hamilton was in 2008.

What were the races like?

Different eras and different circumstances - but there are similarities between their wins on home Tarmac.

One notable point of difference is that Mansell's first British GP win in 1986 came at Brands Hatch - the last F1 event held at the Kent circuit before Silverstone became the permanent home of the race.

The 1986 race was delayed for nearly an hour by a multi-car accident at the first corner. In 2014, Kimi Raikkonen's first-lap collision caused a similar delay for barrier repairs.

Moment: Nigel Mansell famously stopped to give a lift to Ayrton Senna after the Brazilian's McLaren ran out fuel towards the end of the 1991 British Grand Prix

Mansell's had a huge slice of luck in 1986 because his driveshaft failed on the first start. The delay to the second start allowed him to switch to the spare Williams-Honda, which had been set up for team-mate Nelson Piquet.

In both 1986 and 1987, Mansell had to hunt down and pass Piquet to get the win, making up 29 seconds in 28 laps on the second occasion for one of the most memorable F1 races of all time.

Mansell and his Williams were dominant in 1991 and 1992. In his championship year, Mansell qualified 1.919 seconds faster than team-mate Riccardo Patrese in second, with Ayrton Senna - third on the grid - 2.741 seconds back.

Hamilton the rain master does it the hard way

Lewis Hamilton dominated the field during the wet 2008 British Grand Prix, in a Senna-esque performance

Three of Hamilton's home wins came in rain-affected races, with the 2008 event subject to torrential downpours.

In contrast, all of Mansell's victories came in dry weather.

Hamilton was the class of the field in 2008, winning by a staggering 68 seconds while many other drivers struggled to keep their cars pointing in the right direction.

His first two wins also came after starting fourth (2008) and sixth (2014) on the grid, while Mansell's victories all originated from front-row grid slots.

In 2014, Hamilton had a stroke of luck as Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg was hit by a gearbox problem while leading, while the following year he had to overhaul both Williams cars after being jumped at the start.

It's arguable that, even allowing for Mansell's thrilling charge to victory in 1987, Hamilton has had to work harder for his British GP wins.

But there is one thing all eight wins have in common: They were rapturously received by ecstatic home crowds.

Nigel Mansell enjoyed huge crowd support at home, with track invasions following his wins in 1987 and 1992

Nige never went crowd-surfing though

Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox.