Ferrari fight back

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won the British Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Alonso takes British GP win ahead of Red Bull duo

Fernando Alonso scored a much-needed victory for Ferrari, their first of the season, at an absorbing British Grand Prix on Sunday. The Spaniard took the chequered flag ahead of championship leader Sebastian Vettel, with his Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber, claiming the final podium spot at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton fought off a last-ditch attempt by Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa to take fourth place but there was more disappointment in his home race for McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who retired after a botched pit stop. Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg finished sixth ahead of Sauber's Sergio Perez, with Renault's Nick Heidfeld, Mercedes GP's Michael Schumacher and Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari claiming the final points positions.

Dark horses

Ferrari appeared dark horses after showing improvement of late and headed into the race with a number of improvements to their F150° Italia car. Alonso and Massa gave pacesetters Red Bull a run for their money in qualifying, although Ferrari insisted their upgrades were the reason why, rather than any gain from the clampdown on the use of off-throttle blown diffusers. The fact that Alonso took the chequered flag 16.5 seconds ahead of Vettel tells its own story, but he was helped in no small part by a slow Red Bull pit stop at a crucial stage of the race. The early laps - which started with all runners on intermediate tyres because one half of the track was wet with the other dry - certainly suggested more of the same from the defending champions. Polesitter Webber got away slowly at the lights, allowing Vettel to take the lead into the new turn one at Abbey, while Button climbed to fourth past Massa. However, the Brazilian was back ahead after Button ran wide at the start of lap two, and he was then passed by Hamilton, who was making rapid progress from 10th on the grid. Hamilton blotted his copybook somewhat when he ran wide at Brooklands on lap four but he stayed fifth, albeit already almost 12 seconds behind Vettel. The race leader was lapping almost a second quicker than his team-mate by lap six, with Alonso right on Webber's tail three laps later before the latter upped his pace. Hamilton had also closed back up to Massa, with drivers by this stage looking for wet parts of the track to stop their inters from overheating. Schumacher, who had climbed into the points from 13th on the grid, was the guinea pig for the switch to slicks, pitting on lap 10 after a collision with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi. Button pitted from sixth two laps later, with Webber, Alonso and Hamilton stopping the following lap, and Vettel and Massa also in on lap 14.

Brave

The top three positions stayed the same, with Hamilton getting ahead of Massa and Button doing the same with a brave move round the outside at Stowe corner and up the inside into Vale. Hamilton passed Alonso for third into Copse on lap 15, with the race suddenly alive as Webber closed to within 1.5s of Vettel. Vettel responded, though, and extended his lead to 4.3s by lap 22, with Alonso staying right with Hamilton as they in turn pulled 5s clear of Button. Alonso retook third place from Hamilton at the end of the Wellington Straight on lap 24, with the McLaren driver pitting again one lap later. The lead Ferrari then closed on Webber, who stopped on lap 27 along with fifth-placed Button and Massa in sixth. Vettel and Alonso came in one lap later but Red Bull's pit crew struggled with a left rear wheel and suddenly the German fell to third place, ahead of Webber - but behind Alonso and Hamilton. Alonso quickly pulled clear of Hamilton, whose mirrors were filled with the lead Red Bull. Vettel could not get past, though, with Alonso all the while pulling clear. The Spaniard built a lead of over 11s by lap 37, with Vettel - frustrated at being unable to pass Hamilton on the track - then pitting for the last time in an attempt to jump the McLaren. The ploy succeeded, with Hamilton dropping behind when he stopped the following lap. Vettel then got past Massa on lap 39, the same lap Webber stopped. Alonso and Button stopped on lap 40, but the McLaren driver's race was over at the exit of the pitlane after he was released from his box before his car's right front tyre had been bolted on. Meantime, Hamilton and Webber got past Massa, who stopped on lap 42. When the order settled down again, the trio were running third, fourth and fifth respectively. Alonso held a 14s lead over Vettel by lap 42, while Hamilton was being tailed by Webber after being instructed to save fuel. Hamilton lost the final podium place after the Australian ducked past him into Brooklands on lap 46 and soon the surviving McLaren was in Massa's sights.

Contact

The pair were wheel-to-wheel through the final corners of the last lap and contact was made. However, Hamilton kept his foot down through Club and retained fourth place across the line as Massa ran wide. The final two laps also saw a ding-dong battle between the Red Bull team-mates, although Vettel held on for second place after Webber was instructed to hold station. Elsewhere, Paul di Resta, who started sixth on the grid, finished 15th after also falling foul of errors in the pitlane. The Scot had been running in seventh place before his stop on lap 25, when Force India's mechanics brought the tyres of team-mate Adrian Sutil by mistake. Di Resta dropped down the order and then made contact with the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi, whose car suffered a left-rear tyre failure. Schumacher also had an eventful race, having been forced to serve a stop-go penalty after his collision with Kobayashi. The seven-times world champion fell down to 18th place as a result and was often on the pace of the race leaders as he came back through the field and into the points. Sunday's result puts Alonso third in the drivers' championship, albeit still 92 points behind Vettel. Webber is now second, 80 points behind his team-mate, while Hamilton and Button are tied for fourth place, 95 points adrift. Red Bull, meanwhile, lead the constructors' title race with 328 points, with McLaren second on 218 and Ferrari third on 164. Result 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1hr 28mins 41.196secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:28:57.707, 3 Mark Webber(Aus) Red Bull 1:28:58.143, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:29:10.182, 5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:29:10.206, 6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:29:41.861, 7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:29:46.786, 8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 1:29:56.738, 9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:29:59.108, 10 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:30:00.304, 11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:30:00.908, 12 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:30:01.877, 13 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 14 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 1 Lap, 15 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India at 1 Lap, 16 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps, 17 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps, 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps, 19 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 at 3 Laps
Not Classified: 20 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 39 Laps completed, 21 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 25 Laps completed, 22 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 23 Laps completed, 23 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 10 Laps completed, 24 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 2 Laps completed