Vettel victory spoils Button party

SEBASTIAN VETTEL strolled to his third Formula 1 career victory and his second of the year in front of a sell-out 120,000 Silverstone crowd at yesterday’s British Grand Prix.

But the expectant crowd had come to see Championship leader Jenson Button recreate the scenes of last July when Lewis Hamilton swept to a stunning 68-second victory en route to the world title only for the Red Bull driver to spoil the party.

“It is only my second time here at Silverstone, but I enjoyed it so much,” said Vettel.

“This is what I was dreaming of when I saw the first grands prix here at Silverstone in the era of Mansell. It is kind of unreal now to think I am here and I have made it. I have won this grand prix, so I am very, very happy.”

Button still has a 23-point lead over Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello after he finished third behind Mark Webber as Red Bull scored their second one-two of the year, with Vettel now 25 points adrift.

It was simply not the 29-year-old’s weekend, as he predicted would happen following his win in Turkey a fortnight ago.

He knew his winning streak could not continue, and so it proved as he said: “Hopefully this will be the worst race of the year.

“And after struggling so hard to get three points, in a way this might be an important three points.”

As Vettel streaked away into the distance from the start, with the 21-year-old a second per lap quicker than Barrichello and Webber, Button found himself boxed in behind Jarno Trulli on the run down to first corner Stowe.

With nowhere to go, Button dropped from his sixth place on the grid to ninth by the end of the first lap, and that was his race done on tyres he could not heat due to the cool British climate.

“Bloody British weather!” joked Button, as he cast a cursory glance to the heavens.

“If you don’t get the tyres in the working range, it doesn’t matter what car you’ve got, it doesn’t work, so that was my problem.”

As for Vettel, he was unassailable, going on to complete the F1 hat-trick, known as the ‘grand chelem’ of pole, race win and fastest lap, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Webber and a remarkable 41 clear of Barrichello.

Although Button closed in on Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Williams’ Nico Rosberg in fourth and fifth, there was no grandstand finish.

As for Hamilton, it was a race of attrition in a McLaren he has now come to accept is simply woeful.

At least he had the fans on their feet at one stage with a move on old adversary Fernando Alonso in his Renault – albeit with the two world champions fighting over 16th place such is how far the mighty have fallen.

There was another raucous cheer at the end on the slow down lap as the 24-year-old performed a donut at Stowe and again at Copse.

Appreciating the support they had given him over the weekend, Hamilton remarked: “I gave it my all. It’s still a proud day to be able to represent my country, and I want to say a huge thank you to the fans. This is the best weekend.

“It’s been the biggest crowd for a long, long time, and really due to them, all the support, the noise they make, the cheering, that’s helped to carry me through the weekend.

“I hope they know I pushed my hardest and I’ll bring it back to them one day.”