British Grand Prix: Jenson Button is denied a fairy-tale ending by 0.8sec gap

Silverstone delivered a fairy-tale ending for Lewis Hamilton yesterday, but not for the other crowd favourite, Jenson Button.

On a day when there were thousands of pink T-shirts in evidence as many of the 120,000 fans helped pay tribute to Button’s late father John, the McLaren driver was desperately hoping for a podium finish in his honour. However, it was not to be as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo denied him by a scant four-fifths of a second.

“I just held on, but if there had been one more lap it would have been tough with Jenson,” the Australian admitted.

Button said: “I was giving maximum attack all the way through the race, but especially the last 20 laps. One more lap would have been perfect. It was that lap we lost at the start of the race. I think I crossed the line 0.8 seconds behind Daniel.

“Congratulations to Lewis. I said if there was one person that I wouldn’t mind winning, it was him. It’s fantastic for the fans and for the championship. Having a Brit leading the race and one fighting for third is awesome.”

While the Englishman was gracious, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso were bad-tempered in a thrilling fight for fifth place.

As they raced wheel-to-wheel from the 37th lap until Vettel finally got the job done on the 47th, each had much to say over their radios.

“He can’t do that, I would have crashed into him!” Vettel raged on one occasion, when Alonso had the temerity to withstand his challenge. “He didn’t leave me the space. I could easily have given him a puncture!” he said on another.

Alonso in turn complained that the German was exceeding track limits. It was grand prix racing in the grand manner, however. No quarter asked, and certainly none given.