Webber felt his final Saturday qualifying run was compromised by Kimi Raikkonen, leaving him to start third behind Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello and a first stint lodged behind the Brazilian in the race effectively ended Webber’s chance of victory.

“I think it was lost yesterday (in qualifying),” he said after the race. “We needed to get on the front row at least and then in the first stint today we knew from the way Sebastian was pulling away and Rubens was doing his best, though his car didn’t look that easy.

“I was just sitting behind and it’s so difficult to stay close here so the race was virtually lost in that first stint.

“From then on Sebastian had such a gap after the first 20 laps of the race that there was absolutely not chance for me to bridge that gap. It was way too big.”

Webber, though, did what was required and good pace at the end of his last stint allowed him to pass Barrichello in the first round of stops. He was then able to pull away from the Brazilian to secure another 1-2 finish for Red Bull Racing. He didn’t, though, have it all his own way.

“In the last stint it was just a question of getting the car home,” he said. “After the second stop the guys reported that I has some damage at the back of the car, so I had to use a different gear pattern for the last stint.

“This team have absolutely buried themselves at the factory with the night shifts and the attention to detail they’ve achieved - it’s an absolute credit to them. They’ve been led very well and they’re responding to that. Results help. It’s an incredible injection for them to get these top results.

“A 1-2 on home turf with the factory just down the road is the ultimate result for them and it was the best I could have done today I don’t think I could have got much more from that.”

Like Vettel before him, Webber went on to praise the circuit and the enthusiasm of the fans at Silverstone.

“Silverstone – what an amazing track!” he said. “We love driving these Formula One cars here, it’s just incredible to go through that first sector lap after lap after lap, it’s a brilliant place for a Formula One car and it certainly destroys a lot of the other venues that have been picked in the last few years of ours careers.

“And the British fans are always fantastic so it was great.”