Vettel managed to limp back to the pits, but the damage sustained to the
floor, exhaust and wishbone was too severe for the German to continue,
leaving him thumping his steering wheel in frustration.
Red Bull have since confirmed there was nothing on the telemetry on the
formation lap that suggested any kind of issue, and it will now be down to
tyre supplier Pirelli to assess what went wrong.
After that, Hamilton drove one of those faultless races we all know he is
capable of, but so rarely he has displayed this year.
Alonso, who made a lap one move on Button to move up to second, at times
threatened, but instead Hamilton was controlled and composed as he made it
17 wins in his F1 career.
There was perhaps a slight moment of consternation when he pitted first onto
the harder, slightly slower medium compound tyre with 15 laps to go, whilst
Alonso stayed out on the faster soft rubber.
But in the end it mattered little as the Spaniard in his Ferrari emerged
behind Hamilton, and from then on it was a stroll to the line, the
26-year-old dedicating the win to mum Carmen who has been here this weekend
to celebrate her birthday, which was on Friday.
It was Button who ended up having the toughest time, primarily as he lost his
KERS power-boost system for around 25 laps which meant he fell behind the
leading duo.
In the end it was the fact Red Bull opted for a three-stop strategy for Mark
Webber that propelled him onto the podium.
On his final set of soft tyres, Webber did all he could to open up a gap over
Button, but it was never going to be enough.
The Australian pitted at the end of the penultimate lap, but he emerged around
nine seconds behind Button, the 31-year-old in the top three for the seventh
time in the last eight races.
It also means Button has won the battle of Britain within McLaren, with
Hamilton unable to now close the gap on his compatriot, so losing to a
team-mate for the first time since he entered single-seater racing in 2001.
Behind the leading quartet, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was fifth, followed by
Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.
Force India pairing Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta were eighth and ninth, with
Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi claiming 10th.
Hamilton described himself as “ecstatic” and “fantastic”, adding: “That was
one of my best drives of my career.
“I looked after my tyres, I managed the gap, and the team did a great job, so
I’m happy to be back up here. I can now get on my flight tonight and smile.”
Asked if he was back on track after all his troubles, he said: “I don’t know.
It’s early days.
“We’ve a great race in Brazil coming up, so I just need to try and keep the
momentum.”
Alonso also felt he enjoyed “a fantastic race”, adding: “I had a very good
start, a good first lap and the fight with Jenson.
“Then after the problem with Sebastian, I fought with Lewis, and at the last
stop we stayed out two laps longer than Lewis.
“But in the last stint he had a bit more pace, so even if I had got ahead in
the second stop, we probably wouldn’t have won, but it has been a good
weekend.”
As for Button, his KERS issues proved a hindrance as he said: “On about lap 13
or 14 it went.
“I had to fend off Webber and Massa, which was interesting, and then I
eventually got it back.
“But then it went again and I had to keep resetting it, which means it was
very tricky, so coming home third I’m pretty happy.”
Leading final positions after race (55 Laps):
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1hr 37mins 11.886secs
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:37:20.343
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:37:37.767
4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:37:47.670
5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:38:02.464
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38:04.203
7 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38:27.850
8 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:38:29.008
9 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:38:52.973
10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap
11 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap
12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap
13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault at 1 Lap
14 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 1 Lap
15 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap
16 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault at 1 Lap
17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 1 Lap
18 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 2 Laps
19 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps
20 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps
Not classified:
21 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 48 Laps completed
22 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 19 Laps completed
23 Jerome d’Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 18 Laps completed
24 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1 Lap completed