The British Grand Prix returned to Silverstone for the 1965 race and Jim Clark was fastest in qualifying in his Lotus, sharing the front row with the BRMs of Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, which were split by Richie Ginther's improving Honda. On the second row there were World Champion John Surtees in his Ferrari and Team Lotus's number two driver Mike Spence, alongside Brabham's Dan Gurney. There were five British drivers in the top seven positions.

At the start Ginther put the Honda into the lead but on the first lap Clark slipped ahead and the Japanese car slipped back to fourth on the second lap when Hill and Surtees also slipped ahead. Clark drove away from his chasers with Hill trying to keep up while Surtees was left in third after Ginther dropped back with a misfiring engine. Surtees eventually came under pressure from Spence but managed to hold off the Lotus driver while Stewart ran around in a solitary fifth place. In the closing laps of the race Clark's car began to misfire and the gap he had built up closed up dramatically but he managed to stay ahead and crossed the line three seconds ahead of Hill to win his fourth consecutive British GP victory. With Hill second, Surtees third, Spence fourth and Stewart fifth it was a British 1-2-3-4-5.