Alonso seizes his chance for Ferrari

"I saw the problem in the pit stop with Sebastian and we were in the lead at that moment, but who knows what might have happened after that," Alonso said.

"I knew it was a race to be calm, make no mistakes, to not be off the track, and with that I knew the car had enough for victory and it came."

A 27th career victory for Alonso lifted the two-time world champion to third in the standings behind the Red Bull duo of Vettel and Mark Webber.

"Today it is 60 years since Ferrari won its first Grand Prix in Formula 1," Alonso said. "And today we won on the same circuit with the same passion."

Vettel didn't linger on the pit-spot issue, saying that "Ferrari beat us fair and square."

"There were little mistakes here and there," said the German, who has won six of the opening nine races. "You can't get it right all the time, but credit to Ferrari - they have been getting stronger and improving their car.

"There has been a bit of a trend over the last couple of races, they have been very strong on race days, so it shows us we need to keep pushing and improving the car."

There was controversy on the final lap as Vettel increased his lead in the drivers' championship to 80 points over Webber, who had started from pole.

Webber had been ordered by the team to hold his third place and halt his pursuit of Vettel, who had jumped ahead of the Australian at the start when they started from the front row.

Webber said he was "not fine" with the situation, disclosing that he had ignored "probably four or five" orders not to pass his team-mate.

"Seb was doing his best, I was doing my best," Webber said. "I wasn't going to crash with anyone. I try to do my best with the amount of one-way conversation I was having - I was trying to do my best to pass the guy in front."

Red Bull's bosses, though, stressed that they were trying to secure the maximum points possible for the team, which has a 110-point lead over McLaren in the constructors' championship.

"I can understand Mark's frustrations but we cannot give away a load of points," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. "We did not want to see our drivers in the fence at some time in the last two laps, which is how it would have ended up.

"Mark is not out of the championship race but we could not afford to risk losing points. Mark should be fine with that, he is a team player. Second and third is a very strong result."

Having qualified a season-worst 10th, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton went on to defy critics of his driving style in the buildup to his home race.

The 2008 world champion surged ahead from the start and after some fine passing manoeuvres edged Felipe Massa to finish fourth, going wheel-to-wheel with the Ferrari driver on the final lap.

"That was as close as it's going to get," Hamilton said. "I had a good start, made some places up but towards end I had to save fuel. I had to give Webber his position.

"Then on the last lap they said now you can push and I was like, ‘Thanks, after I'd let him catch me up' but I was not giving him that position."

Hamilton is fourth in the championship, tied on 109 points with teammate Jenson Button, whose race ended on lap 40 after exiting the pits with an unsecured front-right wheel, leading to McLaren being fined 5,000 euros.

The 2009 world champion has enjoyed many great days in the sport since his debut in 2000, but Silverstone has never been a happy hunting ground and yesterday's disappointment means he is now without a top-three finish in 12 races at the Northamptonshire track

"The guy on the front right lost a wheel nut and he went to get another one but as he turned I think the lollipop man thought we were good to go," Button said.

"It is very disappointing - in front of my home crowd, I was enjoying the race, my pace was good," Button said. "Hopefully we won't have this sort of issue again.

Prior to the incident, 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.

"Anyone who had pace near the end had a chance of a podium and I definitely had pace," he said. "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.

He added: "I'd like to say 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."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh refused to chastise the pit crew member who cost Button a shot at the podium.

"Jenson drove an excellent race, and I think he could well have bagged a podium finish had it not been for the pit-stop mix-up that prematurely ended his race," said Whitmarsh.

"Our pit crew have done a fantastic job all year, but on this occasion it was a case of human error in the heat of the moment.

"We mustn't be too hard on individuals. I know he's being very hard on himself right now. You can imagine, you can pinpoint it.

"Often when something goes wrong you can't, but this is an unfortunate one that can be pinpointed on an individual who is doing his best."

Meanwhile, Sauber was fined 20,000 euros after the team released Kamui Kobayashi into the path of Williams' Pastor Maldonado in the pit lane.

Kobayashi, who had already received a 10-second stop-go penalty during the race, was later forced to retire with a mechanical problem.