Frustration for McLaren as Ferrari and Red Bull silence home support

A British Grand Prix with very little for British fans to cheer.

Fernando Alonso raised the Spanish flag with a first victory of the season that was greeted by a joyful rendition of the Italian national anthem by his Ferrari mechanics.

There was no ‘God Save the Queen’ at Silverstone this year.

Red Bull may have had two drivers on the podium but as the best of the eight British teams in Formula 1, even that was a disappointment by their own very high standards.

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While the energy drinks company has sparkled over the past 18 months, it is their powerful works neighbours at McLaren who have stuttered.

All 11 of their rivals down in the paddock are customers of McLaren, using anything from wind tunnel technology to spare parts in the genetics of their Formula 1 cars.

McLaren is a giant of cutting edge motor-sport technology and everyone wants a piece of them.

Yet they have not won the constructors’ championship for 13 years.

Red Bull are streets ahead and Ferrari are closing in.

And McLaren’s drivers are frustrated.

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Lewis Hamilton, world champion with the team three years ago, was yesterday told to conserve fuel eight laps from home; a command that effectively ended his pursuit of Mark Webber and third place and left him fending off Felipe Massa.

“That was as close as it’s going to get. It was crazy,” said Hamilton of the final-corner coming together he had with Massa as he fought to protect fourth place from the Brazilian.

“I did the best job I could and I’m really so grateful that when I came across the line, the support I had was as if I had won. Thanks to everyone.

“I was struggling massively. I was having to fuel save, which means I was having to lift and coast. That meant my brake temperatures had dropped.

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“I had no brakes pretty much – that’s why I kept locking up. My left front was just cold.

“I knew braking into there (final corner), I was going to struggle so I tried to keep myself on the inside. He (Massa) braked massively late on the outside.

“I was stopping as fast as I could but he kept closing the door and then we came together. I went over the edge of the kerb and got the exit.

“I’m actually going to go straight to the stewards and just sit there and wait rather than go back and come back.”

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Hamilton lives for racing. He drives on the limit and illustrated that yesterday with a relentless march from 10th on the grid to second place before technology caught up with him.

Hamilton has come in for criticism recently for his aggressive driving. But isn’t that what the 120,000 paying punters came to see at Silverstone yesterday? Their hero cutting a nerveless swathe through the field.

Hamilton’s determination should be applauded by British sports fans, not derided.

His team-mate Jenson Button may not have the same do-or-die determination, and even exudes the manner of someone content with the world title he won in 2009. Anything the 31-year-old achieves from here on in would be a bonus.

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But as he showed in winning that terrific race in Montreal a month ago, he is still one of the best racers in Formula 1. He proved that technology is not the defining factor with his charge from 21st to the top step of the podium in the capricious Canadian weather.

Yet his home grand prix remains the source of great unfulfilment for Button.

Twelve attempts, not one podium finish.

Yesterday it was human error on the part of his pit crew that extended that run. His team failed to secure his front right wheel at a pit stop and Button ground to a halt just a few hundred yards after peeling away from his garage.

“When I headed out, as I turned uphill the wheel came off,” Button explained. “It’s very disappointing. We all make mistakes but you always hope they will never happen to you.”

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Before then, Button’s pace had been strong enough to keep him in contention for a podium finish despite a poor opening stint on intermediate tyres, the legacy of a rain shower in the hour before the race got under way.

Button’s podium bid – and that of Hamilton – was made despite McLaren appearing to suffer most from the ruling made in the run-up to the race that restricted the use of the controversial exhaust-blown diffuser. Diluting the effects of the component, which improves grip at the rear of the car, almost certainly played a part in Button’s early labours in the damp conditions, but as the track dried he began to close in on Webber before his untimely retirement.

Button said: “It’s disappointing because it was in front of the home crowd – a good couple of battles out there and the pace was very good before my stop.

“It was all looking pretty sweet and I think I would have come out alongside Mark, if not ahead of Mark, when I made my pit stop.

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“So much could have happened and there’s always the possibility of a podium when you are that far up and the pace is good.

“Sorry to the fans. I wish we could have done more but it seems that way for me at the British Grand Prix in the last few years.”

Among those fans was Prince Harry.

Royalty paraded up the paddock before the race, swamped by photographers and security who were led on a merry dance by the Prince who stopped off in the garages trying to convince mechanics to let him take millions of pounds worth of machinery out for a spin.

How he, and the majority inside the Northamptonshire circuit, would have delighted in a British winner.

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After qualifying on Saturday it looked like flying Scot Paul di Resta might have delivered on his rookie promise after a season’s-best qualification of sixth.

But after sticking his Force India to the wing of Button in the early stages, Di Resta faded to a 15th-place finish.

It summed up what was a thoroughly unsatisfying grand prix from the British perspective.